Member-only story
Why Is Betsy DeVos Stiffing the Working and Middle Classes?
Greed, God, or Cruelty? Yes and no.
Jake Gittes: How much are you worth?
Noah Cross: I’ve no idea. How much do you want?
Jake Gittes: I just want to know what you’re worth. Over ten million?
Noah Cross: Oh my, yes!
Jake Gittes: Why are you doing it? How much better can you eat? What can you buy that you can’t already afford?
Noah Cross: The future, Mr. Gits — the future!
Her often draconian education policies and goals have led many to wonder about U. S. Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos (as private eye Jake Gittes asked the unscrupulous tycoon Noah Cross in Chinatown) “Why are you doing it?”
A January 2, 2020 editorial by the LA Times asked “Why is it so hard for Betsy DeVos to provide debt relief and loan forgiveness to students?” The editorial staff came up with three possibilities: “ Is she grossly incompetent, unheeding of the law, or actively hostile to students seeking debt relief?” but apparently they were unable to decide: “ It’s hard to say.” Their solution: “ She just needs to treat American college students fairly, something she seems unwilling or incapable of doing.” Good luck with that.
Assuming that DeVos is not unwitting or incompetent, her actions must have some purposeful goal. This series of articles seeks to understand why the Secretary of…
