How can DeVos possibly make things worse?

In the Feb 18 edition of The Daily Herald Susan Bauer laments about the appointment of Betsy DeVos as Secretary of Education, stating that having not attended a public school makes her unfit for the position.

To say that having been educated in public schools as opposed to having gotten a good education elsewhere is a criteria for holding the position of Secretary of Education is as logical as saying one can't be a prison warden unless one had in the past been incarcerated in prison as a convicted felon.

Ms. Bauer tells us that the DeVos appointment will result in the degradation of our fine educational system, which has a "cognitive skills and educational attainment" score of 0.39, ranking us 14th out of 40 countries in that category.

We rank second out of 14 countries in general ignorance about social statistics such as teen pregnancy, unemployment rates and voting patterns.

We rank 24th of 65 educational systems in literacy, 17th out of 40 countries in educational performance, 11th out of 50 countries in 4th grade math, 23rd of 60 in PISA science score. We rank 15th of 30 countries with tertiary graduation rate of 36.5 percent, 35th in math, 29th in science.

Because of the DeVos appointment, she expresses fear for all those children in our public schools and for "all the wonderful teachers" out there.

Ms. DeVos will make things worse? Can she be serious?

Gene Maril

Arlington Heights