It has not even been a month yet since Donald Trump became our 45th president. In that month Trump signed five executive orders. Two of them reverse the Obama administration's halt on the Keystone XL and Dakota Access oil pipelines, the latter of which has been the subject of tense protests by the Standing Rock tribe. He also signed a bill requiring that the pipelines use domestic steel, as well as two orders affecting similar future infrastructure projects. President Trump spoke with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi. The Senate confirmed Nikki Haley as the United States Ambassador to the United Nations. In addition to signing these orders he also signed an order to begin the construction of the wall, an executive order that seeks to reduce the number of federal regulations by requiring agencies to cut two existing regulations for every new rule introduced, and three other orders: enacting a five-year ban on lobbying for presidential appointees after leaving the White House, a lifetime ban for officials lobbying on behalf of a foreign government, and directing his generals to put together a plan within 30 days for defeating ISIS.
One of the biggest moves by Donald Trump was appointing Betsy Devos as Secretary of Education. When Betsy Devos was announced as Secretary of Education it brought many questions to people in the United States whether you were Democratic, Republican or if you’re like me, you always try and keep some distance from politics.
If you remember the tie in Senate that was for Devos. For the first time ever there was a vote that needed a tie breaker by the Vice President. When we were in middle school civics class we learned that the Vice President has the power to break a tie vote but we had never experienced it before. In the 21 years that I have been alive, there have been many decisions that were close but not as close as this one. She has no experience in education and never held a position as an educator. DeVos has primarily been a political activist and philanthropist. One of her early experiences in education philanthropy started at Potter's House Christian School in Michigan. In my opinion, this is a huge deal for me. As someone who values education and is looking toward how to be a better student each day this doesn’t make me feel very comfortable.
DeVos says she want every family to have "educational choice," the umbrella term used to describe efforts to privatize education by, among other methods, installing school voucher programs, which divert public funding to private and religious schools. Growing up I went to public school and it was at public school where I had some of the best teachers and met some of the best people. I feel if children went to private schools not all of them would enjoy it. One thing that makes each education unique is the idea of differences. Some schools will specialize in an area that other schools may not even know about.
I am not taking sides in this situation I am here to give my own opinion. In the household in which I grew up in education was always the first priority and I think it should be up to the parents for them to decide where to send their children. Children are the future of this country and I think that they should have the opportunity for their own education.
