DeVos: The most Extreme example of "Pay to Play"

We need only one more defector.

I dropped out of high school. 

A terrible development 

Hey kids! If it's A-ok for the head of the Dept. Of Education to plagiarize,

it's ok for you too!

Put a clueless religious nut in charge. What a fucking joke. 

Well Slack, if you ever move to VT drop me a line. We'll get you that HS diploma and pay for a minimum of two college classes, a max of 12..You can start a career and lose that chip that you wear on your shoulder.

Slack's probably qualified to teach in VT

I mow pools and clean lawns. Dropped out of high school in the 4th grade.

 

Well, this fucking sucks. 

Rigged!

Thanks to the white haired idiot vote

>>Slack's probably qualified to teach in VT

They even let me, so he's probably golden.

The realer this shit gets the sicker I feel.

the republicans are going to pay for this dearly. maybe not today or tomorrow but down the road their house of cards is going to crash hard. 

the resistance is only going to gain steam after this abomination. 

dbl

Hey kids! If it's A-ok for the head of the Dept. Of Education to plagiarize,

it's ok for you too!<<<

But how will they develop the tools to engage in multi-level marketing?!?

the resistance is only going to gain steam after this abomination <<<<

Hopefully, in time a "gang of ___" will emerge.

My wife has a career, BK. 

We can keep living in California. 

The local schools are good. 

>>The local schools are good. 

Welcome to the DeVos era...

>> The local schools are good. 

We just switched to homeschooling my oldest. The public schools in my area are mediocre. We tried working with the teachers and enrolling him in a mixed grade class, but they were incapable of providing a challenge.

Perhaps we'll try again in a few years.

Will Vermont be a part of the DeVos era? 

DeVos - Whip It Good!

Who will emerge as the figurehead and the voice of the resistance?  

 

All those marchers are looking for a Bernieesque type leader. Who will step up to lead the charge? 

 

Who will emerge as the figurehead and the voice of the resistance?  

 

All those marchers are looking for a Bernieesque type leader. Who will step up to lead the charge? 

 

Jeff G always struck me as kind of a white MLK

 

>>Will Vermont be a part of the DeVos era?

Fuck yeah. I'm going gto open my own charter school. No standards, no oversight and more money - it's going to be the bomb-diggedy!

>> Who will emerge as the figurehead and the voice of the resistance?  

I say you guys run Hillary a 3rd time. Should be good for a laugh.

WHERE ARE MY VOUCHERS TRUMP?

 

the GOP wins again!

 

And once again, America is fucked by the righties.

>We tried working with the teachers and enrolling him in a mixed grade class, but they were incapable of providing a challenge.

I'd would have never imagined that Ender would think that his kid was too smart for the local school.  Lol...   

>> I'd would have never imagined that Ender would think that his kid was too smart for the local school.

He went from 99th percentile to the 99th percentile, but his standardized test scores dropped over the year. He was measured to be the best reader in his class. It's really not an opinion, he was empirically the smartest child in the class.  

He effectively skipped a grade and the public schools still are a waste of time.

No balls at recess? No talking allowed on the bus or at lunch? 9 hours/day is too long for my kid to be bored. I'd rather him have fun all day and undergo challenging/enriching work.

"the resistance"  

 

cracks me the fuck up

sad state of affairs. A Billionaire? there are only 540 of them in the United States. She got hers from Daddy too. Amway.  Is she is really in touch with the average American and the public education system? I feel so sorry for the educators and students and parents in this country.    i can see it now, students can go anywhere do anything as long as they raise the most money in a school fundraiser.

pretty tacky to openly brag about the intelligence of one's child. i thought you were better than that Ender. 

Naw dog, I've always been tacky. See the sweatpants thread.

ender do you not allow your child to wear a hoodie?

They both wear hoodies. I'm a fan of the Zuckerberg look myself. Vans/Levis/Hoodie is my work attire.

I can not believe that there wasn't even just one more Republican smart and brave enough to say no. Stupid fuckheads! This bitch Devos knows fucking nothing! She would have been laughed out of any interview for any normal job. This is insanity.

And has anyone looked into possible FDA Sec. nominee "lets build floating countries on the oceans and live for eternity. Well the wealthy can live for eternity" Jim O’Neill? This whole thing is looking like a billionaires Arkham Asylum.
 

<<DeVos: The most Extreme example of "Pay to Play">>

So far.

ender, you are in Mississippi.  The reason those school struggle is the low funding.  Exactly what Devos wants to do to all public schools.

I bet there are many private schools in your area just like here.  I bet you most of the founding dates are 1964-65. 

Just like here.

I taught in poverty schools here and affluent schools in VA.  Guess which system was better?  Money doesn't talk, it screams  

The avoidance response never solves the problem. 

Charter schools are not held to the same accountability standards and may exclude special ed.  Additionally they usually perform about the same as traditional public schools.

The Devos crowd really wants to use tax money vouchers as private school subsidies for affluent people to go along with their tax cuts.

They are so abused, the darlings. 

>> I bet there are many private schools in your area just like here.

Yes, but, perhaps selfishly, I don't want to put my kids into a religious school. 

I did, however, get an excellent education in Mobile's Catholic schools.

McGill-Toolen?

Edit: Sorry, maybe too personal. My daughter went to MG's rival and scholarship factory Murphy High. 

From what I understand, many charter schools are underperforming their public counterparts. , 

 

"Betsy DeVos, the only human that is more unqualified than Donald Trump himself. The billionaire Secretary of Education, thinks that guns should be permitted in schools because of Grizzly Bears, yes Grizzly Bears. No that is not a term for a school shooter. Not only does she believe in that, but she could not say no to when she was asked the most simple question you could be asked "should guns be permitted in schools?" There have been 142 schools shootings in America since 2013, not only would that number increase, it would skyrocket. Any staff at a school, or even if a kid somehow gained access to this firearm, could take out a gun and as easy as that, shoot everyone in sight. Would you feel safe sending your child to school if his/her science teacher had a firearm attached to his/her belt?

The children of The Free World are the future, your kids, your nieces and nephews, your grandkids, even me. I am a part of the generation that is about to be passed the torch, we are the future of America. We are going to seek change for a better world, we are going to have groundbreaking discoveries, develop new technology, and so much more. But we all need each other, we need team work. How are we suppose to do all of that, if a school shooter decides he/she has a good enough reason to kill us? You're entitled to your own opinion, but as a child that goes to school nearly everyday, I do not feel the least bit safe if there is a firearm in the place I am educated. I would not feel safe in the place I connect with the beautiful world around us the most."

 

Okie Jr. 2-7-2017
14 years old. 

He's been talking like this ever since I took him to see Bernie Sanders. 

It was a turning point and something clicked. Now he's talking about wanting to go to Stanford and Harvard Law School.

What have I done!?!?! 

I'm pretty proud and just letting him roll with it.

Much of this overall fight is rooted in religious issues which is ridiculous when one considers that 45 really has no moral or religious foundation. However, the religious right jumped on the wagon in hopes to make America religious again. It is playing out in the abortion issue via SCOTUS and healthcare as well as education.

As Ender noted above about not wanting to send kids to a religious school, this has been a prevailing wind for decades. I think reasons for it are varied. I'm 54, so 40 years ago, my fairly religious (Roman Catholic) parents battle about whether I follow my brothers footsteps into the local parochial school or into the public system in Albany, NY. My mother was a teacher in the public system in a neighboring town. The combination of watching the education my brother received, knowing the educational opportunities in the local public system and the chance for me to experience diversity were her arguments for me to go the public route. My father never had a chance in that one!

Over the decades, the overall decline of peoples interest in organized religion which was exacerbated by the public awareness of the scope of the RC's sexual abuse of children, really put economic pressures on the parochial systems around the nation. Churches closed. Their schools closed. What remains are the powerhouses in enclaves where there's money from powerful alumni and often tied to their big brand name athletic programs.

What better way for those hoping to make America religious again then by getting the government to help restore parochial education. In the case of DeVos, not even factoring in her specific lack of knowledge for the job, she is on record with very religious comments about education.

Of course, there is also the notion of Charter Schools, etc. As mentioned above, some of the key concerns here is that they do not have to adhere to the same rules as others which automatically positions them for better results. Some get them, some don't. 

We have seen the same in other areas like healthcare. A hospital usually has to offer a full scope of services to their community (ER, Labor and Delivery, Surgery, Intensive Care, etc.). Some of those services are huge money losers (ER) for the hospitals, but they must provide them for the sake of the community. Other areas like surgery, can be huge money makers. Capitalism, such as it is, leads people to figure out that, hey, let's build places where we just do the profitable procedures and we now have Ambulatory Surgery Centers. The issue, of course, is that as those profitable procedures move from the hospital to the ASC, the hospital is left with the increased burden of providing the community with ER/Trauma care with less of the offsetting, profitable surgeries. It becomes a vicious cycle.

Charter schools are the ASC's. If they are allowed to take the best and brightest with no requirements for the disabled, etc., it will leave the publics with more and more of the disadvantaged which can drive the performance down. However, IF you are one of the privileged to get in, you win. With the ability to bring parochial schools into this formula, it gets to be an even bigger issue.

There are no easy answers. Historically, the deal has been, we as a society offer and fund a free, public system with all of it's positives and its flaws. For those who want more, they can pursue it either via scholarships from parochials or by making the conscious decision to fund it themselves. Is there a better way?

ACTION--Send Mitch McConnell the excerpt of the 9 page Corey's Scott King letter opposing Sessions’s 1986 nomination that Sen Warren tried to read, but was rebuked and silenced by Mitch McConnell.

1) Fax it 2) Read it into his voicemail. 3) Mail it. Sign it in your name, Mrs, King's or Sen Warren's. 

ph: (202) 224-2541
fax: (202) 224-2499
All his KY #s: https://www.numbersusa.com/content/my/congress/328/contact

"Anyone who has used the power of his office as United States Attorney to intimidate and chill the free exercise of the ballot by citizens should not be elevated to our courts. Mr. Sessions has used the awesome powers of his office in a shabby attempt to intimidate and frighten elderly black voters. For this reprehensible conduct, he should not be rewarded with a federal judgeship.”

And McConnells assistant will promptly delete or throw away those attempts.  If anyone has the notion that we can somehow 'rehabilitate' the Mitch McConnells of the world you are sadly mistaken.

 

http://www.politicalgarbagechute.com/betsy-devos-flattening-globes/

http://occupydemocrats.com/2017/02/10/betsy-devos-just-tried-visit-publi...

Here's the official Betsy DeVos National Library.
Apparently it's the same repository that the Cheeto-Faced, Ferret-Wearing Shit-Gibbon gets all his legal knowledge (and favorite things to throw at journalists) from:


 

The Public school parents told Betsy to beat it

http://abcnews.go.com/US/education-secretary-betsy-devos-blocked-protest...

in the words of Judge Gorsuch, "demoralizing and disheartening" 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FSu5V6iqKuQ

already were--our jr high gun club learned hands-on in the metal shop class room how to convert a colt 45 semi-auto into a 22 for cheap plinking >should guns be permitted in schools