Charles P. Pierce: The Betsy DeVos Hearing Was an Insult to Democracy

[babylonsister]

The Betsy DeVos Hearing Was an Insult to Democracy

Who are the real grizzlies?
By Charles P. Pierce
Jan 18, 2017


WASHINGTON, D.C.—It was not a hearing. It was the mere burlesque of a hearing, rendered meaningless by a preposterously accelerated process that rendered all questioning perfunctory and that left all cheap evasions hanging in the air of the committee room the way cigarette smoke used to canopy the proceedings back in the day. You would not hire a gardener through the process by which Betsy DeVos likely is going to become the Secretary of Education. A public school system wouldn't hire her to work the cafeteria line at lunch. It was appalling. It was unnerving. It was a grotesque of how an evolved democracy should operate. It was business as usual these days and it likely isn't going to matter a damn.

As nearly as I can tell, the nominees for the president-elect's Cabinet fall into several different categories. There are the people you'd pretty much expect from any Republican administration. (James Mattis, Stephen Flynn, Ryan Zinke). There are the people who understand the mission of their departments and have spent their lives undermining it. (Jeff Sessions as Attorney General, Rick Perry at Energy, Andrew Puzder at Labor). And there are the people who are fundamentally clueless about the general nature of public service. (Rex Tillerson at State.) On Tuesday night, DeVos demonstrated that she is that rarest of Trump administration fauna: Someone who fits capably into all three categories.

She and her family and the Amway gozillions they control have been a bottomless reservoir for the dark money that is the engine behind a dozen different conservative fetish objects, from right-to-work laws, to gutting campaign finance regulations, to injecting splinter Protestantism into every part of the political commons. So she's pretty much what you'd expect from any Republican administration. She understands the mission of the Department of Education and truly dislikes it. And, as was graphically demonstrated even in the truncated questioning Tuesday night, she doesn't know enough about education policy to feed to your guppies.

This was most clearly demonstrated during an exchange with Senator Al Franken. Franken asked her about the distinction in education between proficiency and growth. Then, this happened.

Franken: This brings me to the issue of proficiency, which the senator cited, versus growth. I would like your views on the relative advantage of assessments and using them to measure proficiency or growth.

DeVos: I think if i am understanding your question correctly around proficiency, I would correlate it to competency and mastery, so each student is measured according to the advancements they are making in each subject area.

Franken: That's growth. That's not proficiency. In other words, the growth they are making is not growth. Proficiency is an arbitrary standard.

Devos: Proficiency is if they have reached a third grade level for reading, etc.

(Ed. Note: At this point, the nominee was further at sea than Magellan ever was. We continue.)


more...

http://www.esquire.com/news-politics/politics/news/a52357/betsy-devos-hearing/

[Solly Mack]

1. K&R

[Angry Dragon]

2. she is just more of the swamp scum

[Paladin]

3. God bless Charlie Pierce, yet again.

"A public school system wouldn't hire her to work the cafeteria line at lunch."

BOOM.

[Worktodo]

27. Read several of his columns recently

He's on fire.

[Paladin]

37. I bookmarked him, some time back. He's just that good. (nt)

[Ilsa]

4. Someone taught her a few buzzwords. She has no idea

How to do the job she wants. She just wants to be in place to wreck publuc education, divert funds to private schools, and keep higher education a moneymaker for banksters.

[Fast Walker 52]

11. yep, sure seems that way...

fucking GOP assholes, who don't one tiny shit about such a HUGE part of how our govt helps people.

[Dark n Stormy Knight]

32. That is clearly *exactly* what she's there for.

And she will be more than happy to oblige.

[Scurrilous]

5. K & R

[AgadorSparticus]

6. Good lord. She can't even fake it. They don't even care nought give the facade of competence

It just so angers methat they are spitting in the face of democracy like this.

[dhol82]

7. But, she smiles nicely

[Fast Walker 52]

12. she's creepy as fuck...

Jeremy Scahill really laid into her today on Democracy Now about how she and her family hate everyone who isn't white, Christian and straight

[dhol82]

16. +1

And, she smiles sooooooo nicely!

[AgadorSparticus]

22. She IS creepy as hell!!! People like her need to go back into the hole they crawled out of

OR EVOLVE, DAMMIT!!!

[smirkymonkey]

8. K&R

[Dustlawyer]

9. Could there be a better example of why we HAVE TO GET THE MONEY OUT OF POLITICS?

She bought her way to the head of the nation's public school system to sabotage it and turn it into a profit center for she and her ilk!

Our government is rotten to the core!!!

[bdamomma]

10. She has no clue

what the job entails and all she sees is $$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$. Just billionaires and millionaires who just want to line their own pockets with our money, take away healthcare and everything else, and we got tRump who doesn't give a shit about the American people. All I hear is that song Buddy do you have a dime.

I hope they choke on that greed. And if we have a crash I hope those rich SOB's pay dearly. Sorry I'm venting.

[Sherman A1]

36. Precisely

Well said!

My wife and I were having this discussion today. If these "charming" people get all of our money, what happens then? Do they win? Is there a point system that we somehow are unaware of?

[pnwmom]

13. What did Franklin mean by "the growth they are making is not growth."

I don't think she is qualified for this position, and I can't stand her as a person, but I don't think Franklin's questions were all that clear.

[Yupster]

19. I believe the idea is that if you have a proficiency standard

then kids either hurdle the bar and are proficient or they aren't.

So if you take a test at the beginning of the year, let'd say you have 55 % proficient. Now you take a test at the end of the year and you have 62 % proficient. So 7 % went from not proficient to proficient.

What about the other 93 %? They were either proficient and stayed proficient or they were not proficient and still aren't.

But it doesn't tell how much the average kid grew or didn't grow. Maybe a fourth grade kid was reading at first grade level and is now third grade level. That's huge growth but it will show up as was not proficient and now is still not proficient.

[babylonsister]

20. I heard Franken explain this tonight,

and you did great. Growth or proficiency; one works, the other doesn't, and she didn't have a clue.

[suffragette]

31. I think he said "the growth they're making is in growth" then contrasted with proficiency,

Which he noted is "an arbitrary standard."

I think the author may have heard 'isn't' instead of "is in" then written that in full as "is not."

Here's a video with just that segment. I think Franken did very well, especially considering the time limits they imposed for questioning.

https://m.

[pnwmom]

33. Now that makes sense! Thanks. nt

[suffragette]

34. You're welcome. That it was confusing at all is due to DeVos confused answer in which she

conflated proficiency and growth. She showed no clue as to what the difference is, much less to be able to address differences in the education community about which is more meaningful as a measurement of students' progress.

Franken then had to parse her answer in order to show why it so confused before he could move on to the actual issue.

He's correct. It is a very important issue and anyone being considered for this position should have a full understanding of this and be able to delineate their own stance on it.

[jodymarie aimee]

14. charlie is my god

oh he is marvelous.

[Perseus]

15. "I think we're all going to have to get used to that kind of thing."

NO! we cannot get used to any of it! That is what they want, for people to become apathetic to that kind of evil stupidity, and the moment people get used to it everything goes to hell.

[babylonsister]

21. Yes. and Pierce bemoans

how unimportant the vetting process has become. So, that needs fixing, too, like now. Someone needs to put the kabosh on how this is being handled, though I suppose it's too late to cancel the inauguration.
A girl can dream.

[bhikkhu]

17. While I am in favor of choice when it comes to schools

(with the caveat that any school that accepts public money must practice absolute equality with regard to race, class, gender, religion, and ability)

...it is absurd that "the boss" would know less about education than even an undergraduate studying to be a teacher. She floundered on questions that I learned the answers to ten years ago, when I was in college toward a teaching degree. That career change never happened, but it did give me an understanding and respect for the system.

The worst result that I can think of seems to be the one that is most likely: that the public school system is left to rot, while all the effort, money and attention goes to charters and private schools. I think 4 more years of undermining might be irreversible, at this point, and the US public education system will be effectively done. Except, as these things go, as the place to put those who have no other options.

[keepthemhonestO]

23. It's ok to have choice.

Public funds should go to public schools. That would also take away money for public schools.
If people choose to go to private schools they should use their own money.just my humble opinion.

[pangaia]

26. Looks like the final nails in the coffin that Raygun started making..

[lutherj]

18. The Dunning-Kruger effect amplified by the belief that wealth equals righteousness.

We really need to start calling these people "fake christians", and "whited sepulchers".

[ladym55]

24. Could she be replaced by the potential grizzly bear?

I expect the bear would have as much knowledge of education as Betsy DeVos does ... perhaps more. And the bear would not hate people based on race or sexual orientation.

BTW, DeVos owes the state of Ohio $5.2 million in fines for illegal campaign contributions. (Just want to throw that in there.)

[pangaia]

25. I watched that exchange with Franken. Holy mother of god she is a stupid little shit

[AgadorSparticus]

28. #deVOSstation

[Rex]

29. Plutocracies work that way and now we are in full effect, locked in for the duration.

Of course she was a joke, but she is vulgar rich so can do what she pleases. The GOP minions understand.

[sarcasmo]

30. Betsy kill the unions Devos, privatization nightmare coming for the public school system.

[SMC22307]

35. Pierce truly is one of the best.

Thanks for posting.