Dear Mrs. DeVos,
You are certainly not a favored candidate for the position in which you are nominated, Secretary of Education. I generally don't trust the main stream media; when I see shocking headlines, things I disagree with, or really upsetting news I check multiple sources to ensure that the information I am getting is the correct information.
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When I saw the great upset about your nomination I initially over looked it considering there is quite an upset behind the entire Trump administration. Come January I saw snip-its of your confirmation hearing and did not appreciate what I saw. I felt you were being attacked and perhaps not given a fair shot due to your potential administration. With that, I decided to do some research.
I had hope for you Mrs. DeVos. I wanted the media to be wrong about you. I wanted the negativity associated with your name to be yet another partisan critique but unfortunately I have found that it is not.
My research started with your Wikipedia page where I learned of your roots, your public works, and most importantly, your family. I disregarded that you came from money considering I don't believe that should qualify or disqualify a person's abilities. I noticed that you are an advocate for the voucher system and worked with Detroit charter schools, neither system did I fully understand, so I dug a little deeper.
I went into the definition and the set-up of charter schools, from advocates and opposers of the system, to get a full understanding of what it is about. Then I read up on the schools in Detroit; there was not much good said about the programs you helped establish there.
Regardless of whether or not I am in support of this type of schooling, I am in support of efficient and effective schooling; schooling that works to benefit its students, not solely those who run them. Mrs. DeVos, it does not appear that you have built that type of system in your own community, so how can we expect you to nurture that kind of system nationally?
I have gone through 13 years of public schooling and am currently a student at a public university studying to be a teacher. I know first hand that the policies in place are not ones that are working. I believe that the public school system needs reform in a major way and from what I have come to find about you, I don't have faith that you will do that.
You want to take money and students out of public schools, and I don't blame you, considering you have absolutely no first hand experience with public education. As you said in your hearing, you have been fortunate enough to have gone to and sent your kids to private institutions and have never needed government grants or scholarships to do so. That being said, you can't possibly understand how your efforts are hurting those who aren't in the position you are in.
As a future educator and a patriotic citizen I want what's best for the future of this country, and the future of this country depends on its children. Dismantling the system specifically built to prepare students to be functional, productive citizens will not help better the country. Taking money away from public education and putting it in to private education will not help better the country. Poorly run and mismanaged schools, whether charter or not, will not help better the country.
Despite what seems like a lack of real credentials, you, Mrs. DeVos, have been nominated for a very significant and influential position. I cannot personally determine whether or not this job is given to you but I can do this: I ask you to acknowledge the power that is associated with being Secretary of Education and use it to more readily help those on which our future depends and not those who wish to profit from the education system.
