” … She does not have the qualifications to uphold the department of education’s primary goal—to ensure that all students, not just the wealthy, have access to quality public education that allows them to succeed.” – Sen. Patrick Leahy

It’s undeniable that the American public school has its faults. According to a study conducted by Pearson, the United States has a “cognitive skills and educational attainment” score of 0.39, which makes the United States rank fourteenth out of forty countries.

Our nation’s public school system is plagued with problems, mainly stemming from a curriculum based almost entirely in preparation for standardized tests, and not for real life skills. In a Google search for, “do American public schools adequately prepare students for the real world,” the first result was a study on the progression of high school ACT scores over the past five years.

The fact that we equate the scores of standardized tests with college and real world readiness shows an immense flaw in the system, and this view is synonymous with the presence of current curriculum that lacks depth,only aimed to make students pass exams, not to learn.

But this alleged problem is one that has a solution. This solution can be attained through a change in what curriculum should be based on as well as a new form of educational leadership, not through the complete obliteration of public schools.

The newly appointed Secretary of Education (SOE) Betsy DeVos, though, seems to disagree. In the past few weeks, since she started her rocky climb to the role of  SOE, her platform to create more private schools or schools based on a charter system, has been heavily contested.

According to the Washington Post, Devos barely won the confirmation, and her appointment was the first case in American history where the Vice President had to step in and break the tie in order to secure a government position. The Washington Post went on to state that in the week of her appointment, the Capitol Hill switchboard was so flooded with calls railing against her that it caused delays in the Senate’s voicemail system. Considering that Department of Education receives only 3 percent of the Federal budget, a measly amount compared to other departments of government, it’s incredible how much opposition DeVos’s confirmation has raised.

This opposition is a reflection of how disconnected Betsy DeVos’s views are from the majority of Americans, and the majority of people who actually have experience in education. DeVos, though now in charge of the entirety of the nation’s education and its 50 million plus public school students.

According to usnews.com, [DeVos] has never attended, worked in, nor sent her children to public schools. She has no government experience and no experience running or managing a bureaucracy or large organization.

One thing DeVos is, is a multi-billionaire. Her platform consists of wanting to privatize and defund public schools, replacing them with “school choice” initiatives using vouchers that divert public schooling dollars to charter schools.

For those unsure exactly what a voucher is, or how it works in practice, a voucher is essentially a check the government gives to student’s parents which they use to pay tuition and send them to the private school of their choice.

According to DeVos, parents have the right to choose the education that best suits their children, whether it be virtual, private, public, or homeschooling.

This theory seems to have the ability to be potentially beneficial, but because DeVos has no real experience in education, and was born a multi-billionaire, she fails to realize the disastrous effects her ideas would result in for the American educational system, and the middle and lower classes.

For example, if a student wished to attend a particular school, but their government voucher wasn’t enough to cover their tuition, the only way that student could attend would be to produce the funds themselves, leaving certain students behind in a way that public school never has.

Also, because of these now privatized schools, there is no longer a common entity able to hold teachers accountable for their actions. No regulating committee exists to hold schools up to the highest possible standards because the government is no longer in charge. So, students could potentially receive a worse education with teachers who are not fully licensed, and they have to pay for it.

In fact this exact situation occurred in 2014, according to an investigation by the Detroit Free Press that stated, Detroit public schools spend an average of $12,000 per student in the classroom and require no tuition, while Charter schools spent about $2,000 less per pupil…