Former Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos told Newsmax Wednesday that "this is a really ideal moment to capitalize" on the growing discontent with the "one-size-fits-all" education system and "empower families to make choices."
During an appearance on the new Newsmax show "The Record with Greta Van Susteren," DeVos said that during the COVID-19 pandemic school shutdowns, "many families created their own solutions, and many of them hired teachers to perhaps do a one-room schoolhouse-type situation with multi-grade kids and, for many families, that's working.
"That kind of opportunity really needs to continue today," she added.
Modern-day education was designed intentionally about 175 years ago using an industrial factory model, DeVos said.
"Kids were going to go in one end and coming out the other end all doing the same thing the same way," she said. "That was necessary for certain parts of society at the time, but that is very different than what we need today for our future."
According to DeVos, the problem is that the education model is stuck in a rut.
"It hasn't changed and the status quo, that protects what is, is very formidable," she said. "It has a lock on one (political) party, and it continues to really demand issues that are adult issues, not things that are focused on what is best for children."
The pandemic pulled the curtain back for a lot of parents, however, and the status quo is beginning to crumble, DeVos said.
"Parents didn't expect that their schools were going to do so poorly during all of the lockdowns, and then they discover some of the curriculum that their kids are being fed and they're rightfully upset," she said.
The bottom line, DeVos said, is that "we need to put the power to decide where and how kids learn into the hands of families."
Doing so, she said, will "create a marketplace for creative, entrepreneurial, ingenious people in our country to actually develop different models of helping kids learn and unlocking their potential."
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