There
is a type of staggering long game that is appearing when you view the new
Education secretary, Betsy Devos. She has long been a proponent of charter
schools. Which on the whole do not measure up to the controlled way public
education produces more consistent and legislatively controllable results for
the tax payer dollar. Ms. Devos refers to the great notion of choice, but there
is a deception in that. There are some things we should have choices about, and
some we probably shouldn’t. Deciding whether to rob public schools should not
be the choice of parents with children that are able to get selected to go to
other schools. It is akin to being on a boat, giving everyone a plugged hole
they can decide to pull to let water in. Of course we should complain when one
person pulls the plug and then puts their kid in a lifeboat.
There
have been attempts to undermine public education for years. Some have never
really liked the concept that the state should regulate what children learn,
for religious or political reasons, or often for reasons that lack sense and
only visually seem to be about the first two like not understanding evolution.
Perhaps because we, the public, tend to want our children taught science, and
comprehensive sex education, but I think that doesn’t see the whole picture.
Ms. Devos has never attended a public school, neither have any of her children.
She wanted them to get the best education available and she made sure to do it
outside of a state sponsored educational curriculum. She has advocated for
pulling apart that system, and based on her confirmation hearings has taken few
strides to understand it.
What we
do know from demographics is that there are a segment of the rich that want to
vote republican, and a large swath of the working poor who vote against their
interest to do so. If the former wanted to keep the coalition together their
best bet is to ensure the latter population grows. Limiting educational
opportunities to families already unable to afford private education can go a
long way towards achieving that goal.
The
populist movement of Senator Bernie Sanders was obsessed with the hoarding of
wealth. We should have been concerned, just as much it would seem, that there
is a hoarding of knowledge that could be happening as well. It is one of the
methods through which populations are most easily controlled.
This
party has already pushed a post truth world, tried to co-opt the concept of
“Fake News” with anything they disagree, and tried to redefine facts so that
they would need to meet with the consent of the administration. This is no
great leap to believe that they desire a way to protect their children while
raising the next generation of slavish voters.
Or
maybe this is some hair-brained conspiracy theory. Time will tell.
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