Status-Quo-Breaking Betsy DeVos Lectures Mayors and Assigns Homework.

On January 25, 2018, US ed sec Betsy DeVos spoke to the US Conference of Mayors.

As Caitlin Emma noted on Twitter, DeVos prevented press from attending:

DeVos will address @usmayors conference tomorrow, but it's closed press "at the request of the secretary," a conference spokeswoman said: https://t.co/xD894lpLXv

— Caitlin Emma (@caitlinzemma) January 24, 2018

DeVos has been a magnet of controversy. In fact, the same day that she spoke to the US Conference of Mayors, three civil rights organizations sued her and the US Department of Ed for rescinding Title IX guidance on sexual assault on college campuses.

But back to DeVos’ closed press with the mayors:

Here is her full speech, which ends with her assigning homework:

*Read your state’s Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA) plan.*

Now, the great irony is that DeVos likes to criticize the lecture method (“students lined up in rows, a teacher up front. … Sit down; don’t talk; eyes front….”) even as she was giving a lecture up front, mayors sitting quietly, eyes front, focused on her, as she told them what they needed to do: collaborate.

And do their homework by reading the state ESSA plan.

Her words come across as top-down bossy:

You have an important role to play here.

You can seize the opportunity to truly transform education. Embrace the imperative to do something bold… to challenge the status quo… to break the mold.

Rethinking education will only happen when those closest to students are empowered to make the decisions that are best for them. And with the Every Student Succeeds Act, it is possible to make that happen. So do it!

You need to be involved in that process, directly. How many of you have been asked to, or have on your own, studied your state’s ESSA plan? If you haven’t, you should. And you should let your governor and state chief school officer know your thoughts. Share your local insights. Tell them what families in your community need.

An encore of my favorite excerpts:

Rethinking education will only happen when those closest to students are empowered to make the decisions that are best for them. And with the Every Student Succeeds Act, it is possible to make that happen. So do it! …

How many of you have been asked to, or have on your own, studied your state’s ESSA plan? If you haven’t, you should.

DeVos bossed mayors via lecture-and-homework to goad them to “challenge the status quo.” And she did so as she insulated herself from real-time interaction with the press.

That’s just funny to me.

  Betsy DeVos

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I wrote a few books. Here’s one on the history of charter schools and vouchers:

School Choice: The End of Public Education? 

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And here are two more: A Chronicle of Echoes: Who’s Who In the Implosion of American Public Education and Common Core Dilemma: Who Owns Our Schools?. Swell stuff.

Don’t care to buy from Amazon? Purchase my books from Powell’s City of Books instead.