Stossel on the DeVos Hearings

John Stossel writes an interesting piece on what Betsy DeVos should have said recently during her Senate confirmation hearings for Secretary of Education. Among the more interesting retorts Stossel suggests are those to (1) Bernie Sanders pushing for free university tuition:

Sen. Sanders, how clueless can you be? Your "free" stuff is already bankrupting America! Your "free" health care plan was rejected by your own state -- once your fellow Democrats did the math. Then your wife bankrupted Burlington College! You call yourself "socialist!" Haven't you noticed that socialism wrecks people's lives? You should resign in shame!

And (2) Al Franken attempting to make her look incompetent:

Senator, neither measure is fair to teachers or kids! The proficiency vs. growth argument is a by-product of your stupid No Child Left Behind law. Such federal micromanagement is terrible because every kid is different. That's why your opposition to choice is destructive. Of course, you don't even know how bad many government-run schools are. You sent your kids to a private school that charges $44,000 tuition. Get real, Al!

One could argue with some of these, especially another "should've said" that would have implicitly granted the premise that the government ought to oversee education. But as short replies to questions in today's political context, they are generally better than the tepid actual responses Stossel reports. But no nominee who doesn't support separation of education and state on principle is going to be able to offer the kinds of replies these thieving, anti-education, hypocrites really deserve. But then, such a nominee would be too busy discussing why and how she hopes to abolish her own post.

-- CAV

P.S. Although it is from 2012, C. Bradley Thompson's piece on "The New Abolitionism: Why Education Emancipation is the Moral Imperative of Our Time" is highly relevant:

I begin with my conclusion: The "public" school system is the most immoral and corrupt institution in the United States of America today, and it should be abolished. It should be abolished for the same reason that chattel slavery was ended in the 19th century: Although different in purpose and in magnitude of harm to its victims, public education, like slavery, is a form of involuntary servitude. The primary difference is that public schools force children to serve the interests of the state rather than those of an individual master.

Incidentally, the web site of The Objective Standard is offering this essay and its sequel, "Education in a Free Society" for free as a PDF.

Also relevant is an Alex Epstein piece on Medium regarding, "The School the World Needs to Know About."

Updates

3-6-17: Added HTML code to allow direct link to PS.