Memo to the Education Secretary: Before you sit down with 60 Minutes and Leslie Stahl, perhaps study up on education, especially in your home state, or you’ll look like this:
Sec. of Education Betsy DeVos struggles to answer fairly basic questions on school performance on 60 Minutes pic.twitter.com/lFVq3USwUW
— Axios (@axios) March 12, 2018
When Stahl asked her about being the “most hated” member of Donald Trump’s cabinet, she said that she was “misunderstood.” According to The Washington Post:
“These are just some of the things that DeVos said — or couldn’t answer — during the interview:
- She couldn’t say whether the number of false accusations of sexual assault on school campuses is lower than the number of actual rapes or assaults.
- Arming teachers “should be an option” for states and communities, she said, even though she couldn’t “ever imagine” her first-grade teacher, Mrs. Zorhoff, having a gun.
- “We have invested billions and billions and billions of dollars from the federal level, and we have seen zero results,” she said — a statement Stahl challenged.
- “I hesitate to talk about all schools in general because schools are made up of individual students attending them.”
- In reference to the #MeToo movement, she said she experienced some moments decades ago that “today would just be viewed as unacceptable.”
We all expected a controversial blonde woman to embarrass the Trump administration on 60 minutes, we just thought it would be Stormy Daniels not Betsy DeVos.
— Adam Best (@adamcbest) March 12, 2018
Perhaps this is why Devos rarely gives interviews.
Michigan, which DeVos has helped turn into the Wild West of school choice, recently posted largest decline in 3rd grade reading of 11 states taking same test. Half of Detroit’s kids are in charters — 90 % students not proficient in reading. She struggled b/c NO EVIDENCE IT WORKS. https://t.co/MJ0PYL5AmW
— Ida Bae Wells (@nhannahjones) March 12, 2018
Watch the full 60 Minutes segment here.