Letter to the Editor: DeVos-Why not?

TO THE EDITOR:

Betsy DeVos is wealthy. She willingly chose to engage the huge problem of public education. Instead of self indulgence, she chose public service. She brings to the discourse a point of view that stands in contrast to our public education system controlled by the Teacher's Union.

This I know. Any system, no matter the field or cause, where a large group, such as a trade union, controls policy the result is a least-common-denominator system. That is a stagnant system where inefficiency is standard, where searching for solutions beyond the norm is discouraged, where control snuffs out real improvement. Such systems spit out anything and anyone that rocks the boat, shocks the system, or suggests things could be different and better. We choose the teacher over the student, the employee over the product.

I am the son of a union organizer. My father made his life's purpose defending his labor union against the power of his employer. His name graced the corner stone of the Labor Temple. He lived during a time when company stores existed, when the individual worker was mute and beat down against the power of the company. That day passed. In my generation I saw my cousin go to work at a mill like my father's. In no time, the fellow workers told him to slow down because his work made them look bad. He simply could not do his job to his high personal standard. He chose to quit and return to the family business in the log-woods. The trade union shut down the excellence he represented because he discomfited the other employees. That system chose the worker over the product.

President Obama came into office waving the banner of change. This administration represents another and different type of change. Ms. DeVos enters the position of Secretary of Education with an outsider's perspective. Where's the problem? The obvious and existing problem is that our children come through our public education lacking many important skills. How can we justify standing pat, holding to the current norm, working to resist change? It is time for more change and Ms. DeVos is willing to work for that. Anyone else want that job?

Harvey Woods

Texarkana, Ark.

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