On November 23, 2016, president Donald Trump nominated the first two women in his Cabinet. The first was Nikki Haley who was nominated as the US Ambassador of the United Nations. The second was Betsy DeVos, who was nominated as Secretary of Education. While many were happy and praised Haley’s nomination, the choice on Devos was criticised even before it was announced. Betsy Devos is an active advocate of the Common Core education system, something that Trump railed about during the race for presidency against Hillary Clinton. When confronted about Devos’ support for Common Core, Jason Miller, Trump’s spokesman said, “The president-elect has been very consistent and very clear about his opposition to Common Core.” However, Trump still claims that she is “a brilliant and passionate education advocate.”

DeVos is also a major advocate for charter schools and school vouchers.She currently leads the American Federation for Children and is a part of the Foundation for Excellence in Education. Betsy Devos and her family have been active in Republican Politics for years.

The president of the American Federation of Teachers, Randi Weingarten, stated to Fox News that DeVos, “has no meaningful experience in the classroom or in our schools. The president-elect, in his selection of Betsy Devos, has chosen the most ideological, anti-public education nominee put forward since President Carter created a Cabinet-level Department of Education, in nominating Devos, Trump makes it loud and clear that his education policy will focus on privatizing, defunding, and destroying public education in America.”

On the other hand, the president of the Foundation for Excellence in Education, Jeb Bush, has a different opinion on Devos. He says that she is “an outstanding pick” for the position as Secretary of Education. He went on to say “She has a long and distinguished history of championing the right of all parents to choose schools that best ensure their children’s success.”

Before she was elected as the Secretary of Education, Betsy DeVos was a Republican Party chairwoman in Michigan. While working there, she had been working on trying to privatize public education by creating programs and trying to pass laws that use public funds to pay for private school tuition by means of vouchers, which take money from taxpayers and use it to fund private schools. She was alse behind the increase of charter schools in Michigan, most of which have recorded below average reading and math test scores. Many public education advocates fear that DeVos will use her position to help push public school to defunding and destruction. Many of Trump’s cabinet member nominations have been controversial already, however none of them seem as inappropriate, ineffective, or contrary to reason than his nomination of Betsy DeVos to lead the Department of Education. She is not an education leader, nor is she an educator. She is not an expert in pedagogy or curriculum in school governance. Betsy DeVos has no relevant credentials or experience for the position of setting standards and guiding costs for America’s public schools. Although, she is a lobbyist. As her time in Michigan has shown, she has used her wealth before to influence education reform and to bend the conversation about it to her thoughts and  convictions, despite the lack of experience to support them. Who is to say she will not do the same to the whole country’s public education systems.

While many think that DeVos is only trying to broaden parent’s options for their children’s education, past evidence proves otherwise. In the case that history repeats itself, public funds will have to be put towards private and charter schools. Not everyone in America can afford private schooling, which is a large reason why thousands of American students attend public schools. This could throw off our funding, which could be spent on better and more effective things like improving the safety in the community. There also is nothing wrong with public schooling. Students who graduate from public high schools have just as much opportunity and ability as anyone else. In fact many public high school graduates are prominent in Ivy League school rosters. In fact, one student named Kwasi Enin attended public schooling and applied, and got admitted to all eight Ivy Leagues on the East Coast including Harvard, Yale, Cornell, Dartmouth, Brown, Columbia, University of Pennsylvania, and Princeton. If Betsy DeVos changes the face of education by privatizing schools, who knows the damage it could have on kid’s education. People may not be able to afford it even with vouchers. Some students may drop out if they feel pressured by the private school system. And thousands of teachers across America could lose their jobs. Smaller schools mean less classrooms and less classrooms means less teachers.

Charter schools have also proven that they educate children no better than public schools. All children have the right to a quality public education and DeVos’ relentless advocacy of private and charter schools takes that away from kids. Betsy DeVos also has absolutely zero experience with public schools. Growing up, she attended private schools then sent her children to them. The only interaction she’s ever had with public schools is trying to get rid of them with no real reason other than her own opinions and lack of experience.

If Betsy DeVos achieves what she’s said she wants from this position as Secretary of Education, all schooling funds would be prioritized on private and charter schools. Public school districts would not receive the funding they need to maintain the schools and they would eventually be shut down. Teachers would be forced to leave their career field as many job opportunities would decrease and the teaching occupation would be frowned upon because of the lack of education for America’s children. Then the public schools still running would have to hire less trained teachers who would not be able to give students quality education because they would not be as fit to teach as an educated teacher. Lacking a stable teaching force, even private and charter schools would be affected and their quality of education would decrease as well, leaving America’s children uneducated.

This has all happened before in Michigan and no one can genuinely say that they are sure that history will not repeat itself. Betsy DeVos has been bashed by the Democratic party since her nomination was announced. Many are deeply concerned for the future of American education and rightfully so. DeVos does not have the proper credentials or experience to lead education in the right way. It is hard not to agree with Weingarten when saying that she is the most ideological nomination since the position was put in place by President Carter. She simply just is not fit for this occupation in the Cabinet and we can only hope for the future of public education in Betsy DeVos’ hands.