Iowa Democrats freaked out last week when Gov. Kim Reynolds met with Betsy DeVos, the U.S. Secretary of Education. Rep. Bruce Bearinger (D-Oelwein) wrote about the meeting in his weekly legislative newsletter:
“My biggest concern at the end of this week was hearing of a closed-door meeting between Governor Reynolds, Republican legislators, and U.S. Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos. My concern is that based off of the track records there may be plans in the works to gut public education further and an increase in private schooling. I was a public school teacher for 16 years. Public schools are the backbone to our democracy and should be thought of as such. Public money should be used for public schools.”
Yes, you read that right. Just to be sure, read this part again…
“I was a public school teacher for 16 years. Public schools are the backbone to our democracy and should be thought of as such.”
To our knowledge, America is still not a democracy. Fortunately we are still a constitutional republic.
“And to the republic, for which it stands…”
We cannot continue to teach American children that our country is a democracy. Unless, of course, we don’t want our children to understand our country’s heritage or setup.
