The Michael Knowles Show - The Progressive Attack on Our Children ｜ Betsy DeVos

00:00:00.000 It seems like every single contentious issue

00:00:26.340 in the country, just about, all keeps coming back to one issue,

00:00:31.960 and that would be education.

00:00:34.680 At the center of the education issue for the past 35 years,

00:00:39.120 there has been one person.

00:00:41.780 That would be the former Secretary of Education, Betsy DeVos, 0.99

00:00:46.080 author of a brand new book, Hostages No More,

00:00:49.880 The Fight for Education Freedom and the Future of the American Child.

00:00:55.040 Secretary DeVos, thank you for coming on.

00:00:57.580 Thanks for having me, Michael.

00:00:58.920 So there is this very strange circumstance,

00:01:03.540 which is you've been working on this for decades.

00:01:06.280 Education has flown a little bit under the radar.

00:01:10.020 Conservatives talk about it.

00:01:11.200 Republicans talk about it.

00:01:12.120 It's never been a top-tier issue.

00:01:13.400 And now, beginning, I suppose, really last year

00:01:16.880 and accelerating throughout the 2022 year,

00:01:19.360 it seems as though education is at the heart of the election.

00:01:25.100 You see what happened in Virginia.

00:01:26.840 Education flipped that race.

00:01:28.540 You see Florida.

00:01:29.640 Education's played a huge role down there.

00:01:31.560 State by state.

00:01:33.780 Is this the moment?

00:01:35.540 It is the moment.

00:01:36.380 And the last two years have really laid bare for American families across the country

00:01:43.440 the failings of a 175-year-old system,

00:01:48.580 failings that I've seen for many years,

00:01:50.660 many others have seen and tried to change policy around.

00:01:54.340 But those failings have been laid bare,

00:01:56.720 be it in extended shutdowns,

00:01:59.380 be it mandates and mask mandates and, you know, in, out, whatever,

00:02:04.760 blended learning, distance learning.

00:02:07.180 And they had a front-row seat to all of this.

00:02:10.040 And in many cases, they were very frustrated

00:02:12.540 and very disappointed with what their kids were experiencing

00:02:16.320 or, frankly, not getting in terms of an education.

00:02:19.560 So this is really a key moment.

00:02:22.260 Parents are riled up, and rightfully so,

00:02:26.120 and grandparents and friends and neighbors are.

00:02:29.620 And so it's an ideal time to push forward

00:02:32.520 with policy that will empower families.

00:02:34.920 What do you think specifically riled them up?

00:02:38.060 You gave a few examples there.

00:02:39.520 I've wondered if transgenderism in the schools,

00:02:42.580 the idea that boys now are going to go into a girl's locker room.

00:02:46.180 I'm not a parent of a daughter,

00:02:47.700 and my son is not in school yet,

00:02:49.940 but that would be a red line for me.

00:02:52.620 I just would, I could not accept that situation.

00:02:54.640 Is it that?

00:02:55.560 Is it the critical race theory in the schools?

00:02:58.360 Is it, or was it just this bizarre experience of COVID

00:03:02.320 where the schools get shut down,

00:03:04.600 the teachers' unions keep the kids out for two years,

00:03:07.640 and the parents say, enough?

00:03:09.600 I think it's all of the above.

00:03:11.540 And in many cases for families,

00:03:13.660 it's a number of those problems

00:03:15.520 all coming into confluence with one another.

00:03:17.780 For others, it's one of them.

00:03:19.400 But in any case, there are any number of issues

00:03:22.940 that have become apparent to families

00:03:25.300 in ways that they had never really paid attention to before

00:03:29.160 or realized before.

00:03:30.620 Many families had their kids in schools

00:03:32.680 that they thought were good places for their kids to learn,

00:03:36.400 and then they had this front row seat to what was happening.

00:03:39.500 And that was really revelatory for them.

00:03:42.480 So they've gotten involved.

00:03:44.340 They've been told in too many cases

00:03:46.140 that they should go back, 0.98

00:03:48.300 shut up, sit down, don't bother us. 0.99

00:03:50.600 We know what's best. 0.99

00:03:52.560 And then we saw the prospect of the FBI being called out

00:03:56.540 to turn parents away from expressing their concerns

00:03:59.360 or asking their questions at school board meetings.

00:04:01.860 That's right.

00:04:02.420 You have, under the Biden administration,

00:04:05.440 the FBI, the DOJ come out.

00:04:07.620 They both say that parents,

00:04:11.120 parents just going in and showing up to their kids' schools

00:04:13.340 and saying, hey, cut the nonsense, 0.95

00:04:15.580 pose a terrorist threat. 0.84

00:04:17.280 Yeah, yes.

00:04:19.780 I mean, it is jaw-dropping to think

00:04:22.400 that is how we're deploying

00:04:24.160 the highest law enforcement agency in our country

00:04:28.200 to call parents domestic terrorists

00:04:31.400 and send them, you know, the FBI into schools.

00:04:34.200 It's just that, I think,

00:04:36.080 has also been a huge point of contention

00:04:39.260 and has awakened other parents even more

00:04:42.320 to where the emphasis is in this whole equation.

00:04:45.620 It's not on what's right, it hasn't been,

00:04:48.340 and it is not on what's doing what's right for kids.

00:04:51.460 It's been about adults and adult issues

00:04:53.620 and their vested futures.

00:04:56.140 Well, and there is the just exposure

00:04:58.680 of the teacher unions.

00:05:00.720 I suspect you've known for a very long time,

00:05:03.060 I've known for a very long time,

00:05:04.560 that the teacher unions are positively villainous.

00:05:08.320 They have destroyed so much of American education.

00:05:11.320 But for your average voter,

00:05:13.400 who's not totally plugged into politics all the time,

00:05:16.240 probably that wasn't abundantly clear until COVID.

00:05:20.980 Exactly.

00:05:21.940 Because the school unions,

00:05:23.800 and I think, talk about them broadly as school unions,

00:05:26.500 because they represent a whole lot more than teachers.

00:05:29.380 And I would say teachers are sort of a second thought

00:05:31.880 in that whole equation with the teachers union.

00:05:34.720 But yes, they kept schools closed down

00:05:37.280 way longer than necessary.

00:05:39.000 You know, children around the world were going back to school

00:05:41.800 in the spring of 2020.

00:05:43.980 And, you know, we encouraged folks to be making plans

00:05:48.660 to get kids back in school in person in the fall of 2020.

00:05:51.900 And we were accused of playing politics with COVID.

00:05:55.540 Well, it was not politics with COVID,

00:05:57.500 it was out of concern for what this is doing to kids.

00:06:00.840 Kids suffered, and we won't know the full extent

00:06:04.180 of how it has harmed, how all of those closures,

00:06:07.260 all of the back and forth, in and out,

00:06:11.080 how that has harmed kids in the long run,

00:06:14.280 and especially the kids, the most vulnerable ones,

00:06:16.960 who could least afford to be out of school.

00:06:19.640 This is such a scary point,

00:06:21.920 which is we won't know the effect

00:06:23.840 of what is being done to kids in schools

00:06:26.760 for quite some time.

00:06:28.040 And it gets back to this issue

00:06:29.420 that everyone seems to be focusing on

00:06:32.040 right this moment in the schools,

00:06:33.880 which is the gender ideology. 1.00

00:06:36.540 The idea that in some schools now,

00:06:39.080 a child, an 11-year-old, a 12-year-old,

00:06:41.700 could be put on puberty blockers

00:06:43.640 without parental notification,

00:06:45.920 could have their biochemistry fundamentally altered

00:06:48.840 because of, in my view,

00:06:51.900 an absurd notion of human nature and sexuality

00:06:56.460 without a parent having any say in this.

00:06:59.660 This is a life-altering, irreversible sort of...

00:07:04.280 How do the schools get away with that?

00:07:06.600 Well, I don't think they will, ultimately,

00:07:08.600 because, again, people have awakened

00:07:10.760 to what is happening.

00:07:12.960 And exposing that and getting it out into the light,

00:07:16.780 it will ultimately have to change behavior

00:07:18.720 on the part of those schools and buildings,

00:07:21.480 but it will ultimately help embolden folks

00:07:25.760 who've been reticent before

00:07:27.360 to support this notion

00:07:28.780 that parents should ultimately be in charge 0.91

00:07:31.120 of where and how their kids learn.

00:07:33.700 And so I think it's an important moment

00:07:36.620 because I think that we will never go back

00:07:40.260 to this pre-COVID situation

00:07:44.560 where we just sort of assumed things were doing,

00:07:48.240 our kids were doing well,

00:07:49.480 and we assumed that what they were being taught

00:07:52.460 was what they needed to know.

00:07:54.460 We've known for a long time before COVID

00:07:56.580 that the system most kids are in

00:07:59.200 has not done well

00:08:01.220 and has not helped kids achieve

00:08:03.420 to the levels they need to.

00:08:05.220 Our international competitiveness is just...

00:08:08.020 We're not even in the top 10 in any subject area

00:08:11.140 as compared to international peers.

00:08:13.840 And we keep spending more and more money,

00:08:16.760 but getting worse and worse results.

00:08:19.560 And again, it's the kids who can least afford it

00:08:22.000 that are the ones being harmed the most.

00:08:24.320 I imagine that you are going to be

00:08:26.480 a highly sought-after person looking ahead to 2024.

00:08:31.520 This is a major issue that's going on.

00:08:34.980 All of the conservatives worth their salt

00:08:37.360 are focusing on this issue of education.

00:08:39.760 So if you had some 2024 candidate coming,

00:08:44.040 groveling to Secretary DeVos for advice,

00:08:46.540 what should I do?

00:08:47.180 How should I focus my campaign?

00:08:48.800 What would be the first things

00:08:50.180 you would tell them to focus on?

00:08:51.720 I would tell them focus on universal education freedom

00:08:56.880 for every family in America

00:08:58.180 and fundamentally changing the system

00:09:01.060 we've lived with for 175 years.

00:09:03.240 It's not working for the vast majority of kids.

00:09:06.300 And for those for whom it is working,

00:09:07.960 it wouldn't force any change,

00:09:09.280 but it would give the freedom to the families

00:09:11.120 that don't have it today

00:09:12.560 to make a different choice

00:09:14.140 and find a different alternative

00:09:15.620 and place for their kids to learn.

00:09:18.240 Could a Republican president

00:09:19.620 or even a well-meaning Democrat,

00:09:21.740 if we can find one in office,

00:09:24.720 could they enact a federal nationwide

00:09:28.480 school choice policy?

00:09:30.100 Well, the policy that they can enact

00:09:32.380 and which we champion during the Trump administration

00:09:35.660 is an education freedom scholarship,

00:09:38.880 a tax credit at the federal level,

00:09:41.720 doesn't form another,

00:09:43.200 it doesn't create another federal program.

00:09:46.080 It's simply a mechanism through the Department of Treasury

00:09:48.720 for individuals to redirect a portion

00:09:51.520 of their federal tax bill

00:09:53.020 to scholarship organizations

00:09:54.980 that will help families have that freedom

00:09:57.820 that we're talking about

00:09:58.800 to make choices different than their assigned schools.

00:10:01.100 That's a great idea.

00:10:02.880 I absolutely love that idea.

00:10:05.040 It's a great idea, yes.

00:10:07.160 Even the conservatives

00:10:08.420 who don't want to grow the government

00:10:09.640 and don't want to have a new program,

00:10:11.440 it's okay.

00:10:12.060 It's not, you're just moving money

00:10:13.300 from a place where it's probably being wasted

00:10:15.880 to a place that is so important

00:10:17.800 because it's not as though education

00:10:19.680 is just some side issue in the country, right?

00:10:23.220 The classroom is, it's a crystal ball.

00:10:25.240 It shows you what your country's going to look like.

00:10:26.820 Exactly, exactly.

00:10:28.760 And we have not had the kind of creativity

00:10:30.780 or the kind of disruption

00:10:32.220 in the education industry

00:10:34.280 that we've had in every other sector of our society.

00:10:38.260 And when we do have that,

00:10:40.240 we're going to be amazed

00:10:41.740 at what the American ingenuity

00:10:43.740 and entrepreneurship will create and cultivate

00:10:47.220 and how that's going to ultimately help kids

00:10:49.680 who today are being ill-served

00:10:52.540 by their assigned schools

00:10:53.760 and are frustrated or bored to death

00:10:57.200 with the schools that they're going to.

00:10:59.300 And it will create a whole different environment

00:11:01.780 and therefore much better outcomes

00:11:04.480 and achievement levels,

00:11:05.640 which is important for leadership

00:11:08.160 in the future for our country.

00:11:09.520 Now, I have a selfish time problem

00:11:11.940 and it's this.

00:11:13.100 I have a 17-month-old baby,

00:11:15.640 got another baby on the way.

00:11:17.380 They are going to be five years old

00:11:19.000 before I know it.

00:11:20.540 Blink of an eye.

00:11:21.160 Blink of an eye.

00:11:21.820 And there are not a lot of great school options

00:11:25.400 around Nashville.

00:11:26.980 I've asked people,

00:11:27.980 I said, where are they?

00:11:28.580 They say even the good schools

00:11:29.700 have gone pretty woke.

00:11:31.100 So I think,

00:11:32.200 what am I going to do with my kid

00:11:35.180 in the short term?

00:11:36.400 Does this mean I homeschool my kid

00:11:39.480 and I lose out on my tax credit?

00:11:40.980 How do I do it?

00:11:42.120 Well, if Tennessee adopts 0.68

00:11:45.640 a statewide education savings account program,

00:11:48.300 you could access that

00:11:49.920 and take some or all of that money

00:11:52.600 to form a little consortium

00:11:54.220 of homeschoolers with other families

00:11:55.940 and pay a really great teacher

00:11:59.040 to come and teach your kids.

00:12:01.360 And having education freedom

00:12:04.180 for kids is important.

00:12:06.000 It's also important for teachers

00:12:07.500 because really great teachers,

00:12:09.840 they will be the highly valued

00:12:12.240 part of that equation

00:12:13.840 and they'll be able to find

00:12:15.680 their own niche

00:12:16.600 and their own place

00:12:17.700 to teach in ways

00:12:18.860 that will really work for them.

00:12:20.620 And it's really an exciting prospect

00:12:22.580 for teachers as well.

00:12:24.620 This sounds like

00:12:26.280 when Western civilization made sense,

00:12:29.920 when our civilization was growing

00:12:31.760 and thriving,

00:12:33.060 this is how education was done.

00:12:35.480 It wasn't big, institutionalized,

00:12:37.420 one-size-fits-all public schools.

00:12:39.640 Alexander the Great,

00:12:40.600 going all the way back,

00:12:41.560 Alexander the Great

00:12:42.240 didn't go to a public school,

00:12:43.460 that he was tutored by Aristotle.

00:12:45.440 And people traditionally

00:12:47.320 who had privilege and had means

00:12:49.660 had these small little tutoring consortia.

00:12:54.900 Why can't we give that to everybody?

00:12:57.400 We can.

00:12:58.160 And we can do that

00:12:59.180 through the mechanism

00:12:59.960 of education freedom

00:13:01.080 in the form of education savings accounts.

00:13:04.100 So each family could take

00:13:05.580 the dollars that are already designated

00:13:08.200 for that child for their education.

00:13:10.060 And today we spend on average

00:13:12.580 $15,000 per child per year.

00:13:16.040 Some places it's a lot more,

00:13:17.680 in some places it's less.

00:13:19.300 But if you metaphorically attach that

00:13:21.400 to that child's backpack

00:13:22.460 and let their family decide

00:13:24.600 how and where that child

00:13:26.180 is going to learn,

00:13:27.620 we're going to have the creation

00:13:29.440 of these homeschool,

00:13:30.800 one-room school,

00:13:31.680 micro-school environments.

00:13:32.800 And it will be an exciting,

00:13:36.340 growing time for kids

00:13:38.140 for whom that approach will work.

00:13:40.860 And it will be also a time

00:13:42.440 for entrepreneurial folks

00:13:43.980 to take some of the things

00:13:45.740 they've tested.

00:13:46.660 And there's been a lot

00:13:48.120 of interesting educational experiments

00:13:51.280 that have been going on

00:13:52.560 in this country.

00:13:53.320 And I try to highlight many of them

00:13:55.360 that I visited in my book.

00:13:57.640 But there's been a lot that's happened,

00:13:59.700 but there hasn't been the ability

00:14:01.460 to scale that

00:14:02.800 or offer it more broadly

00:14:04.200 because there aren't enough families

00:14:06.040 empowered to make those decisions.

00:14:08.220 So in a very short time,

00:14:10.100 maybe before your son is five,

00:14:12.320 you could have that opportunity as well

00:14:14.340 to choose not only a homeschool,

00:14:16.240 but perhaps a multitude

00:14:17.700 of other possibilities

00:14:19.400 that would work for him.

00:14:21.160 This sounds marvelous.

00:14:22.660 I'm in.

00:14:23.280 I want to sign up

00:14:24.120 wherever I possibly can.

00:14:25.660 I suspect most Americans

00:14:27.060 will be in on this.

00:14:27.900 I think this is why the parents movement

00:14:29.860 has been so effective

00:14:31.440 is that it appeals

00:14:33.380 not just to Republicans,

00:14:34.440 not just to Democrats,

00:14:35.420 not just to white people,

00:14:36.440 not just to black people,

00:14:37.280 not just to northerners.

00:14:38.140 It has a very, very wide appeal.

00:14:41.580 However, there are entrenched interests.

00:14:45.780 The school unions,

00:14:47.360 as you, I think, aptly call them,

00:14:49.020 they're not going to like that.

00:14:50.660 The government bureaucrats

00:14:52.240 are not going to like that very much.

00:14:54.080 And the leftist activists

00:14:55.700 who have infiltrated these schools

00:14:58.220 and openly,

00:15:00.060 I'm not spatting some conspiracy theory,

00:15:01.780 they've written and talked about this at length,

00:15:03.460 used the schools

00:15:04.440 to advance their ideology.

00:15:06.320 They're not going to like that either.

00:15:07.980 So how do you overcome

00:15:09.700 those political hurdles

00:15:11.520 to school choice?

00:15:14.080 Well, you elect people to office

00:15:16.000 from the federal level

00:15:17.200 to the most local level

00:15:18.480 who support this notion

00:15:20.020 of education freedom

00:15:21.000 and hold them accountable

00:15:23.040 to, you know,

00:15:25.160 actually advancing those policies

00:15:27.000 when in office

00:15:27.880 and defeat the ones

00:15:30.200 that are opposed to it.

00:15:31.440 That's happening

00:15:32.120 in states across the country now.

00:15:34.180 It can happen more broadly

00:15:36.760 because I think the parents

00:15:38.420 are going to demand it.

00:15:39.780 Well, this is something

00:15:40.340 I've always loved

00:15:41.020 about your approach

00:15:41.960 to politics in particular.

00:15:43.580 There are many people

00:15:44.300 on the right

00:15:44.800 who, unfortunately,

00:15:46.520 they have a little too much faith

00:15:48.240 in the free markets

00:15:50.020 or in the culture

00:15:51.360 or in,

00:15:52.160 they just sort of think,

00:15:52.960 look, we don't need to focus

00:15:53.940 on direct political action.

00:15:55.740 We'll just hope it all

00:15:57.200 kind of works out in the end.

00:15:58.480 And that isn't really how it works.

00:16:01.260 The left fills every political

00:16:03.640 and government post

00:16:04.740 down from the lowest level

00:16:06.400 all the way up to the top

00:16:07.540 and they exert real political pressure.

00:16:10.180 You have worked within

00:16:12.700 and on the Republican Party

00:16:14.460 for many, many years.

00:16:15.840 I'm reminded of that line

00:16:18.260 from Ernest Hemingway.

00:16:19.700 You know, he's describing bankruptcy.

00:16:21.020 He says,

00:16:21.780 you go bankrupt gradually,

00:16:23.160 then suddenly.

00:16:24.140 Well, that's true

00:16:24.660 of edifying things too.

00:16:26.600 The movements grow gradually

00:16:28.000 and then suddenly.

00:16:28.940 Maybe we're at that moment right now.

00:16:30.780 So how do you,

00:16:32.440 for the regular old,

00:16:34.180 maybe Republican listening,

00:16:35.660 maybe conservative activist listening,

00:16:37.660 what do they do practically?

00:16:41.040 Practically speaking,

00:16:42.180 we have elections coming up

00:16:43.500 in a few months

00:16:44.220 and there are candidates

00:16:45.840 running for office

00:16:46.760 from the federal level

00:16:48.340 to your most local level.

00:16:50.460 Check out your candidates' positions.

00:16:52.960 Support candidates

00:16:53.880 that are going to vote for,

00:16:55.580 advocate for,

00:16:56.540 and then vote for

00:16:57.460 education freedom policies.

00:16:59.680 And specifically,

00:17:01.400 ask them,

00:17:02.600 what do you mean

00:17:03.260 if you support education freedom?

00:17:05.280 What does that mean to you?

00:17:06.600 And get them on record

00:17:07.860 as being willing to cast votes

00:17:10.940 for policies that are going

00:17:12.120 to make that dramatic change

00:17:13.700 and hold them accountable.

00:17:15.900 Are there states

00:17:16.700 that have been doing this

00:17:17.740 better than other states?

00:17:19.140 There are.

00:17:20.300 Florida is probably

00:17:21.300 the most advanced

00:17:23.540 in that regard.

00:17:25.160 For more than 20 years,

00:17:26.840 they have continued

00:17:27.680 to build on policies

00:17:28.900 that then-Governor Jeb Bush

00:17:30.880 put into place.

00:17:31.980 I seem to recall

00:17:32.680 you had a hand

00:17:33.760 in some of those policies

00:17:34.800 down in Florida.

00:17:35.520 Yes, we've been working

00:17:36.500 in Florida for a long time.

00:17:38.220 But there's been legislators

00:17:40.300 and governors

00:17:40.980 who've continued

00:17:41.660 to build on those

00:17:42.880 original successes.

00:17:45.120 And they're still committed

00:17:46.880 to more freedom

00:17:48.760 and broader freedom

00:17:50.120 for Florida students.

00:17:51.760 And I expect they'll attain that

00:17:53.580 in the next session

00:17:54.480 or the next year.

00:17:55.920 That's happening there.

00:17:57.400 Arizona has been very good.

00:17:59.920 Indiana has been great.

00:18:02.200 Wisconsin and Ohio

00:18:03.600 have continued

00:18:04.220 to expand on programs.

00:18:06.660 Tennessee has come along.

00:18:08.460 The Supreme Court in Tennessee

00:18:09.880 most recently gave approval,

00:18:12.980 passed constitutional muster

00:18:15.900 on the education savings

00:18:17.600 account program here.

00:18:19.020 I think Tennessee

00:18:19.860 has an opportunity

00:18:20.720 to double down on that

00:18:22.280 and make it a statewide

00:18:23.720 education savings account program

00:18:26.060 so that families across Tennessee

00:18:28.080 can access it.

00:18:29.640 So it's happening.

00:18:30.620 It's happening many states,

00:18:32.000 26 states that have some form

00:18:33.980 of education freedom,

00:18:35.220 but not nearly enough

00:18:36.860 to really address

00:18:38.560 the demand and the need

00:18:39.780 that has become apparent.

00:18:41.880 Something that strikes me

00:18:43.720 just hearing you

00:18:44.420 describe all of this

00:18:45.740 is,

00:18:47.500 and it's something

00:18:48.100 people probably

00:18:48.780 don't know about you

00:18:49.660 who haven't spent time

00:18:50.460 with you,

00:18:51.280 you have a great deal

00:18:52.180 of humility

00:18:52.740 about what you've accomplished

00:18:54.120 in politics

00:18:54.800 and you don't go bragging

00:18:56.820 about it,

00:18:57.180 you don't make a big show

00:18:58.020 about it,

00:18:58.420 but you have been

00:18:59.120 consistently chipping away

00:19:01.040 at this issue

00:19:01.920 for a long time.

00:19:03.440 As you described,

00:19:04.100 going back 20 years

00:19:04.920 in Florida

00:19:05.360 and elsewhere

00:19:05.920 around the country,

00:19:07.380 and people probably

00:19:08.700 don't know that.

00:19:10.500 In fact,

00:19:11.020 if people have

00:19:11.620 a public perception

00:19:12.840 of you

00:19:13.260 and they haven't

00:19:13.700 paid close attention,

00:19:15.160 the perception

00:19:15.900 probably will be

00:19:16.980 that you are 0.99

00:19:17.920 the devil incarnate

00:19:19.420 because they tuned

00:19:20.780 into CNN

00:19:21.600 during the Trump administration.

00:19:23.320 You know,

00:19:23.580 that's absolutely right,

00:19:24.600 and I would encourage them

00:19:26.340 if they'd like

00:19:26.860 to get a different perspective

00:19:27.880 and understand

00:19:28.700 how this issue

00:19:30.660 has developed

00:19:31.580 over the last

00:19:32.460 number of years

00:19:33.120 and to see hope

00:19:34.540 for where we are

00:19:35.980 in time right now

00:19:36.920 and what we can accomplish

00:19:39.160 in a short period of time

00:19:40.520 because of the momentum.

00:19:42.400 I encourage them

00:19:43.480 to read the book

00:19:44.600 that I just finished

00:19:46.600 and I'm really excited

00:19:48.180 about getting out there,

00:19:50.120 Hostage is No More.

00:19:51.740 It is a provocative title,

00:19:53.740 but it is a reference

00:19:55.160 to Horace Mann,

00:19:57.400 the founder

00:19:58.000 of our education system,

00:19:59.940 175 years ago said

00:20:02.980 that educators

00:20:04.200 are entitled

00:20:05.200 to look upon parents

00:20:06.740 as having given

00:20:08.000 hostages to our cause,

00:20:10.460 and so the title

00:20:11.700 Hostage is No More

00:20:12.800 suggests

00:20:13.440 we have got to free

00:20:15.240 our children

00:20:16.040 and families

00:20:17.040 from being hostage

00:20:19.360 to that cause,

00:20:20.540 the multiple causes today

00:20:22.080 that we've seen

00:20:23.080 contrary to families' values,

00:20:25.960 to their wishes

00:20:26.580 for their children,

00:20:27.640 to their aspirations

00:20:28.820 for their children,

00:20:30.240 and free them

00:20:31.680 to really, really

00:20:33.220 pursue their futures

00:20:34.360 in meaningful ways.

00:20:35.400 You know,

00:20:35.620 I have not yet read the book.

00:20:37.440 In my defense,

00:20:38.180 it's not out yet.

00:20:39.140 I just received my copy,

00:20:40.980 so I very much

00:20:42.880 look forward to reading it,

00:20:43.840 and I didn't catch

00:20:45.000 the reference

00:20:46.200 from the title,

00:20:47.800 but it's a very important one

00:20:49.120 because a lot of people,

00:20:50.180 I think,

00:20:50.580 believe that

00:20:51.140 our problems in education,

00:20:52.740 they go back 20 years,

00:20:54.940 30 years,

00:20:56.080 50 years.

00:20:56.680 No,

00:20:57.240 they go back

00:20:58.040 basically to the very beginning

00:21:00.900 of the public education

00:21:02.080 movement in America.

00:21:02.720 They go back to people 0.98

00:21:03.320 like Horace Mann

00:21:04.700 and others.

00:21:05.940 Yes,

00:21:06.300 yes,

00:21:06.620 indeed.

00:21:07.480 And when our modern

00:21:09.600 education system

00:21:10.680 was implemented,

00:21:12.040 it was specifically

00:21:13.420 to educate

00:21:15.280 and form children

00:21:16.700 to become

00:21:18.400 factory workers

00:21:19.620 and,

00:21:20.360 you know,

00:21:21.280 industrial age,

00:21:22.500 just to go do

00:21:23.440 the same kind of job

00:21:24.640 day after day,

00:21:25.680 time after time.

00:21:27.120 And again,

00:21:28.080 our society

00:21:29.420 has fundamentally changed,

00:21:31.580 and yet,

00:21:32.220 we're still practicing

00:21:33.460 the same approach

00:21:34.760 to how kids learn.

00:21:36.500 We look at the situation

00:21:38.080 now,

00:21:38.300 we say,

00:21:38.920 these kids,

00:21:39.580 they're just being churned out 0.63

00:21:40.420 as automatons,

00:21:41.400 and we describe that

00:21:42.520 as though that's a bug

00:21:43.580 of the system.

00:21:44.360 In fact,

00:21:45.280 it was the design.

00:21:46.320 It was the design.

00:21:47.240 It was the feature,

00:21:48.160 and so maybe that means

00:21:49.500 we need a different system.

00:21:51.440 Exactly.

00:21:52.260 Secretary DeVos,

00:21:53.220 thank you very much

00:21:54.260 for the book,

00:21:54.980 first of all,

00:21:55.520 Hostages No More.

00:21:56.740 Go get it today.

00:21:58.620 The Fight for Education Freedom

00:22:00.020 and the Future of the American Child,

00:22:02.660 available wherever fine books

00:22:04.220 are sold,

00:22:04.800 so be sure,

00:22:06.180 go out and get it.

00:22:07.100 Arm yourself.

00:22:07.880 It's important for your kids.

00:22:09.600 It's important for your community.

00:22:11.260 It's important for your country.

00:22:12.980 And Secretary DeVos,

00:22:14.100 thank you so much.

00:22:15.300 We'll see you next time

00:22:15.820 you're in town.

00:22:16.500 Sounds great.

00:22:17.080 Thanks so much.

The Michael Knowles Show - July 04, 2022

The Progressive Attack on Our Children ｜ Betsy DeVos

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