Open Letter For Betsy DeVos: Education Chances

Your University of Affiliation An Open Letter for Betsy DeVos Your Name Your Subject and Section Your Professor’s Name April 5, 2018 Dear Ma’am DeVos, For almost a century in our history equality, liberty, and the promise of the American dream has been achieved by many people through the policies which bind these promises into reality. Whether it be in terms of career opportunities, security, and education, the policy of Affirmative action has helped us to become stronger and fight for the sake of what our forefathers envisioned for our nation. However, despite its utmost effectivity, I believe that we must also be able to recognize and adapt to the dynamic environment which we live in. These days, instead of being a gift for the youth, this policy has become more of a way to discriminate others, particularly in spite of their merits. A repressive and unequal system has come from what was a beacon of light for most American youth. From this, I will discuss some points that I believe are the main causes of this disparity and inequality. After this, I will give some of my humble suggestions on how could we change this system, and once again uphold the principles that led us to where we are at right now. All in all, I believe that while Affirmative action did effect monumental changes in the country’s education system, it’s stagnancy during the present-day system requires it to be changed to what is truly in need – educational access for the poor. Education is viewed by many as a symbol of equity as well as hope. Schools can simply be described as the engines or the propellers of equal opportunity in the society. Ma’am DeVos, it is only through education that people from all walks of life will come together and unite in their arguments. Ma’am it is indeed through the power of education that the oppressed will rise up in power and knowledge and demand their freedom. Education is the pillar of this nation and of the world. Every person and child in the world deserves the opportunity to be who they wish to be and education is the gateway to opportunities. However, Ma’am without quality education for everyone, it will indeed be quite difficult for the country to move forward as a unit. While in Michigan, Ma’am you vehemently lobbied and worked hard to ensure and prevent any proposals of oversight of charter schools in the state of Michigan. However, looking at recent data proves that charter schools have a big problem. Racial inequality especially towards the African American youth is quite an issue there. Apparently, charter schools have higher than normal rates of suspension compared to public schools with the African American students being the highest recipient of these suspensions. As it is, the country is divided on different aspects but I believe it should not be the same in education. However, Ma’am, your proposal for school choice could indeed lead the country towards more segregation instead of delivering it from it. School choice has been hotly contested and debated and critics believe it will only lead to more funds getting siphoned from public schools. Ma’am DeVos, I believe it will indeed help to consider ideas which will help to promote the idea of equity and not blindly lobby for one which simply aims to outwardly extol an idea while neglecting the real task. School choice is not something that will promote education equity and Chile is a good case study. As we all know, the policy on Affirmative action was conceived during the administration of President Lyndon Johnson, between the years of 1963-1969. This policy was pushed forward in line with the series of Civil Rights initiatives aiming to bolster racial equality amongst the whites and the blacks during the time. As a legislation, the policy on affirmative action was passed via an executive order in 1965, under the wing of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 (Encyclopædia Britannica, 2017). For the most part, Affirmative action is defined as “an active effort to improve employment or educational opportunities for members of minority groups and for women” (Encyclopædia Britannica, 2017). It is heavily believed by some of the proponents of this act that even until today, racial equality and integration could be fostered by this system within our schools. On the other hand, however, the opponents believe that what is happening today is far from the kind of equality that we envisioned for the most part. In fact, this has become a type of “reverse discrimination” that neglects the principle of meritocracy, deeming the performance of deserving students as useless for they cannot get the best education. As you may well know, the policy itself has incited a lot of attention and legal actions as different institutions wanted to gauge its effectiveness and find better alternatives. As of today, almost all of the states still have a modified form of this policy with the exception of “California, Washington, Michigan, Nebraska, Arizona, and Oklahoma that banned the policy through voter referenda” (Potter, 2014). Despite its scarceness within state institution, we show our deepest appreciation for our Supreme Court who has ruled out the use of blatant and unnecessary use of Affirmative action. In the ruling that they made during the court case of the ‘Regents of the University of California v. Bakke’ case of 1978 (Sander & Tay...