(02-02-2017 09:12 AM)Machiavelli Wrote:  There are very strong public schools systems? Why don't we emulate them?

more like why don't all parents emulate those parents? draw us a map of where all these great schools are and I'll pull all the demographic info for you. deal?

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Still waiting, Mach. Provide a list of the "very strong public schools" and I'll do the rest.

I'm all for school choice, but when you fail to grasp basic educational concepts like DeVos and it's clear you're only there because you've given a lot of money to the GOP, I'm not on board with you being Secretary of Education. Out of all the people in America, there gotta be at least a handful of candidates who favor school choice reforms, have an understanding of basic schooling concepts, know a bit about how public and private education are structured in the US, are willing to endure the scrutiny of being a public official, and acknowledge that they'll be under Trump's thumb during his term.

That being said, people in general overblow the minor cabinet nominations out of proportion. Once you get outside the inner circle of State, Treasury, etc, the minor secretaries are mostly just administrators who carry out the will of the POTUS and his staff. The DeVos opponents should be more afraid of her stated position on education, given how it most likely indicates Trump's position. If that's the case in his administration then there's not a ton to worry about her per se, although if I were president I'd defer a good deal to the cabinet heads as long as they're carrying out my general policy goals.

I'm disappointed because I actually think she is exactly what our education system needs. It would be extremely difficult, if not literally impossible, to screw up education more than the career education bureaucrats have done over the last 40 years. I think it probably requires someone who is not in bed with the education jargon to get things moving in a proper direction.

So growth versus proficiency is the hot issue in education today? That's nothing but debating what kind of metrics do we use to try to hide the fact that our system is a gigantic clusterflock. Instead of moving the deck chairs around, somebody needs to get busy plugging the hole in the bottom.

(02-02-2017 07:50 PM)fsquid Wrote:  she'd be the first cabinet nomination defeated in which the party of the president had a majority in the Senate.

God bless the teachers unions $$$$$$$'s buying off GOP Senators to derail a nomination.

Honestly...I couldn't give a damn if she is confirmed or not...but...Seriously doubt she could do much to make the public schools worse. It has very little to with the schools anyway. Most of it is due to schitty ass parents that expect the schools to teach their rug rats the things that THEY should be teaching them at home. PARENTS are the biggest part of the problem in the schools. All you have to do is go look at the students that excel in ANY school. EVERY damn time...you will find the majority of those kids have the most involved parents.

(02-02-2017 07:40 AM)Fort Bend Owl Wrote:  Putting her confirmation in a separate thread since it could be pretty unprecedented stuff. I'm not sure if the vote will happen today or not. Apparently the vote currently stands at 50/50 (unless a Democrat or two votes to confirm her). If it's 50/50, VP Pence gets the tie-breaker so she'll barely squeak by (and that's never happened before in American politics).

However, there is a separate issue that since Senator Sessions will be confirmed as Attorney General, if his vote is before DeVos, he can't vote on her confirmation and the vote becomes 50-49. Surely, the Trump Administration is smart enough to realize that, but who knows.

I'm still going on my prediction that she will be the only Cabinet appointee to be defeated (or she will withdraw her nomination prior to a vote which is a possibility if one additional Republican Senator says no and there are some others considering a no vote). I'm telling you, she was far and away the worst candidate Trump nominated in his administration.

Agree, but that department is getting gutted anyway. It's the one that really needs to go.

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(02-02-2017 09:12 AM)Machiavelli Wrote:  There are very strong public schools systems? Why don't we emulate them?

And they'll be even stronger without the feds up their arses and the hoards of fat women they bring in to push papers and comply with dumb rules.

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(02-02-2017 10:40 AM)Owl 69/70/75 Wrote:  

(02-02-2017 09:12 AM)Machiavelli Wrote:  There are very strong public schools systems? Why don't we emulate them?

What about them should we be emulating? What makes them strong?

The fat women receiving their papers in Dee Cee say it is because of the fat woman pushing it to them so we need more fat women enforcing dumb rules and regulations in Dee Cee and more fat women pushing papers at the local district. It's a big racket. And the actual teachers that are doing real work get a 0.5% raise.

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(02-02-2017 10:40 AM)Owl 69/70/75 Wrote:  

(02-02-2017 09:12 AM)Machiavelli Wrote:  There are very strong public schools systems? Why don't we emulate them?

What about them should we be emulating? What makes them strong?

They're in affluent, predominantly white neighborhoods and full of kids whose parents are both college graduates who pay a lot of RE taxes on their upper middle class homes. We just have to roll that out across the country.

It could be 50 against and 49 for right now if Sessions get affirmed. That would be one less GOP to vote.