Betsy Devos Quotes

Powerful Betsy Devos for Daily Growth

About Betsy Devos

Betsy DeVos is a prominent American education advocate, philanthropist, and political figure who has significantly influenced the American educational landscape. Born Elizabeth Prince DeVos on January 8, 1957, in Grand Rapids, Michigan, she grew up in a politically active family that encouraged her to think independently and engage in civic affairs. DeVos earned a Bachelor of Arts degree from Calvin College in 1979, followed by a law degree from the University of Michigan Law School in 1984. After graduation, she worked at the law firm of Nichols, DeVos, Kyrillos & Casey, where she met her future husband, Dick DeVos, who was also working there. In 1976, Betsy and Dick co-founded The Windquest Group, a holding and investment company with interests in manufacturing, retail, and real estate. Their business success afforded them the opportunity to engage in philanthropy, particularly in the realm of education. They established the Dick & Betsy DeVos Family Foundation, which supports numerous educational initiatives nationwide. DeVos's political career began in 1992 when she served as chairwoman of the Michigan Republican Party. In 2006, she was appointed by President George W. Bush to serve on the Board of Directors for the American Red Cross. Her most notable political achievement came in January 2017 when she was sworn in as the United States Secretary of Education under President Donald J. Trump. Throughout her career, DeVos has been a vocal advocate for school choice and educational reform. She has penned numerous articles on education policy and has spoken at various conferences and events on these topics. Her life and work continue to shape the American education system, with her emphasis on choice and innovation reshaping traditional educational paradigms.

Interpretations of Popular Quotes

"Education is not a one-size-fits-all enterprise."

This quote suggests that education should not be standardized or treated as a uniform process for all students. Every student has unique abilities, interests, and learning styles, so an effective educational system should cater to individual needs rather than forcing everyone into the same mold. It encourages personalized, flexible, and adaptable learning experiences that empower students to reach their full potential.

"I am very open to the role that technology can play in making education more accessible and effective for students."

Betsy DeVos is expressing a forward-thinking perspective on education, suggesting she welcomes the potential of technology to make learning more inclusive and efficient. Her statement implies an openness to innovative educational technologies that can break down barriers to access and enhance student success.

"If a school has a D or F, parents need to know. They have a right to know."

This quote emphasizes the importance of transparency in education. Betsy DeVos suggests that parents should be informed about their child's school's academic performance, as indicated by grades like D or F. By having this information, parents can make educated decisions about their children's education and hold schools accountable for delivering a quality education.

"Our goal is not just to open schools; our goal is to give every family in America the chance to choose the type of public school that meets their needs."

This quote by Betsy DeVos emphasizes the importance of educational choice and diversity for all American families. The statement suggests that the ultimate aim is not merely to establish schools, but to provide an opportunity for every family to choose a public school that caters best to their unique needs, thus fostering a more tailored and personalized education system in the United States.

"School choice works because it's about families and students, not systems or unions."

Betsy DeVos' statement emphasizes that school choice policies are designed primarily to empower families and individual students, rather than prioritizing educational institutions or labor unions. In other words, she suggests that the focus should be on providing options for parents to choose the best education for their children, not being constrained by existing systems or union rules. This perspective underscores the importance of flexibility, family involvement, and student-centered learning in education reform.

Our nation's commitment is to provide a quality education to every child to serve the public common good. Accordingly, we must shift the paradigm to think of education funding as investments made in individual children, not in institutions or buildings.

- Betsy DeVos

Education, Nation, Paradigm, Institutions

I do support high standards, strong accountability, and local control.

- Betsy DeVos

Strong, High Standards, High, Standards

I greatly appreciate being asked to be part of President-elect Trump's team and I will continue to enthusiastically support him and his agenda for American renewal.

- Betsy DeVos

Will, Trump, Part, Renewal

I don't think Donald Trump represents the Republican Party... I think more and more people are going to realize that they really don't trust him.

- Betsy DeVos

Trust, Think, Donald, Republican Party

It is not fair to think that when students transit through a K-12 system that is not preparing them for beyond, that somehow we are going to wave a magic wand and things are going to be perfect for them at the higher-ed level.

- Betsy DeVos

Magic, Think, Through, Transit

Parents no longer believe that a one-size-fits-all model of learning meets the needs of every child. And they know other options exist, whether magnet, virtual, charter, home, faith-based, or any other combination.

- Betsy DeVos

Needs, One-Size-Fits-All, Magnet

President-elect Trump and I know it won't be Washington, D.C., that unlocks our nation's potential, nor a bigger bureaucracy, tougher mandates, or a federal agency. The answer is local control and listening to parents, students, and teachers.

- Betsy DeVos

Students, Nation, Trump, Mandates

If you don't live in an area with good public schools, you can move to a different place if you have the financial means to do so.

- Betsy DeVos

Move, Area, Means, Different Place

It could be easy to get frustrated or discouraged when it comes to educating students with disabilities. But that's because there are too often artificial barriers and roadblocks that limit your ability to focus on meeting their individual needs.

- Betsy DeVos

Focus, Students, Frustrated, Discouraged

I will not be deterred from my mission of helping kids in this country.

- Betsy DeVos

Mission, Country, Will, Deterred

If taxpayer money were limitless, we wouldn't need a budget at all.

- Betsy DeVos

Money, Need, Were, Budget

If the question is around gun violence and the results of that, please know that my heart bleeds and is broken for those families that have lost any individual due to gun violence.

- Betsy DeVos

Broken, Question, Gun, Bleeds

Government likes committees... a lot. Committees kill all the really good ideas and generally all the really bad ideas. They produce middle-ground mush.

- Betsy DeVos

Bad, Good Ideas, Bad Ideas, Committees

If politicians in a state block education choice, it means those politicians do not support equal opportunity for all kids.

- Betsy DeVos

Education, Means, Block

Where conflicts are identified, they will be resolved.

- Betsy DeVos

Will, Where, Conflicts, Identified

If a parent chooses to go to a school that is not a public school, then that is a decision made and a contract made with that provider.

- Betsy DeVos

Decision, Parent, Public, Chooses

My job isn't to win popularity contests.

- Betsy DeVos

Job, Win, Popularity, Contests

There are not enough philanthropic dollars in America to fund what is currently the need in education.

- Betsy DeVos

Education, Currently, Fund, Philanthropic

We won't accomplish our goals by creating a new federal bureaucracy or by bribing states with their own taxpayers' money.

- Betsy DeVos

New, Own, Taxpayers, Goals

Assault in any form is never OK, and I want to be very clear on that.

- Betsy DeVos

Never, Very, Assault, OK

The natural instinct is to join in the chorus of conflict, to make your voice louder, your point bigger, and your position stronger. But we will not solve the significant and real problems our country faces if we cannot bring ourselves to embrace a mindset of grace.

- Betsy DeVos

Voice, Country, We Cannot, Real Problems

We should celebrate the fact that, unlike some countries in the world, the United States makes promises that we will never send any student away from our schools.

- Betsy DeVos

Fact, Some, United States, Promises

If we can manage to break free, to open the system and embrace all choices for education, we will be the first to give politicians awards to hang on their office walls.

- Betsy DeVos

Education, Give, Hang, Manage

I'm proud to stand beside you as a partner and support Special Olympics - an important program that promotes leadership and empowers students to be agents of change.

- Betsy DeVos

Change, Proud, Empowers, Beside

At my direction, the Department's Office for Civil Rights remains committed to investigating all claims of discrimination, bullying, and harassment against those who are most vulnerable in our schools.

- Betsy DeVos

Against, Committed, Remains, Department

We'll be examining and auditing and reviewing all of the programs of the department and really figuring out what is the core mission and how can the federal department of education really support and enhance the role of the departments in the states.

- Betsy DeVos

Education, Role, Reviewing, Department

I consider protecting all students, including LGBTQ students, not only a key priority for the Department, but for every school in America.

- Betsy DeVos

Including, Protecting, Department

That's where my heart has been for three decades is to really empower and allow all families the same kind of opportunities I've had for my kids.

- Betsy DeVos

Kind, Been, Allow, Decades

The bottom line is we believe that parents are the best equipped to make choices for their children's schooling and education decisions.

- Betsy DeVos

Education, Bottom, Equipped, Schooling

Government tends to stifle innovation, and it abhors improvisation. Any good military strategist will tell you that a battle plan rarely survives past the first engagement. After that, you have to improvise to survive and to win.

- Betsy DeVos

Tell, Engagement, Improvise, To Survive

When it comes to education, no solution, not even ones we like, should be dictated or run from Washington, D.C.

- Betsy DeVos

Education, Run, Like, Dictated

We must first listen, then speak - with humility - to genuinely hear the perspectives of those with whom we don't immediately or instinctively agree.

- Betsy DeVos

Humility, Genuinely, Then, Perspectives

Let me say, I fully embrace equality, and I believe in the innate value of every single human being and that all students, no matter their age, should be able to attend a school and feel safe and be free of discrimination.

- Betsy DeVos

Students, Feel, Attend, Fully

I can assure you I have never made decisions on my mother's behalf on her foundation's board.

- Betsy DeVos

Foundation, Made, Behalf, Board

Every child deserves to attend school in a safe, supportive environment where they can learn, thrive, and grow.

- Betsy DeVos

Environment, Supportive, Thrive

They say that if you voted for Donald Trump, you're a threat to the university community. But the real threat is silencing the First Amendment rights of people with whom you disagree.

- Betsy DeVos

Amendment, Trump, Donald, None

Social justice and economics are both issues to me.

- Betsy DeVos

Me, Economics, Social, Social Justice

We expect to foster a conservative governing philosophy consisting of limited government and respect for traditional American virtues.

- Betsy DeVos

Conservative, Limited, Consisting

We're not proposing any shifting of funding from public schools to private schools.

- Betsy DeVos

Private, Funding, Proposing, Private Schools

I expect there will be more private schools.

- Betsy DeVos

Will, Expect, Private, Private Schools

We knew we had the resources to send our kids to whatever school was best for them.

- Betsy DeVos

School, Resources, Knew, Send

One of the hallmarks of higher education and of democracy is the ability to converse with people with whom we disagree.

- Betsy DeVos

Education, Disagree, Whom, Converse

I can now video chat with my grandkids from any corner of the world, listen to music, or order food and have it delivered to my front door.

- Betsy DeVos

Door, Grandkids, Delivered, Chat

When governors such as John Engler, Mike Huckabee, and Mike Pence were driving the conversation on voluntary high standards driven by local voices, it all made sense.

- Betsy DeVos

Made, Governors, Mike, Conversation

As a kid, I grew up middle class, but my father was a great innovator with an entrepreneurial spirit, and it wasn't long before my family became part of the infamous 1%.

- Betsy DeVos

Middle, Infamous, Became, Middle Class

The bigger goal of giving all parents more choices is one that will have to be discussed and undoubtedly roundly debated, but we are going to have to continue to build the case. The momentum is there on the state level in many states. That's where the energy needs to be harnessed in a new way.

- Betsy DeVos

Giving, Debated, States, Case

No student should feel like there isn't a way to seek justice, and no student should feel that the scales are tipped against him or her.

- Betsy DeVos

Student, Against, Like, Scales

Discrimination in any form is wrong. I don't support discrimination in any form.

- Betsy DeVos

Support, Form, Any, Discrimination

Every child in America deserves to be in a safe environment that is free from discrimination.

- Betsy DeVos

Environment, Safe, Deserves, Discrimination

As a mom, I just can't imagine having a child who would feel discriminated against for any reason, and I would want my child in a safe environment.

- Betsy DeVos

Reason, Imagine, Having, Discriminated

As we know, lots of people working together to solve problems doesn't happen often enough, particularly here in Washington.

- Betsy DeVos

Here, Happen, Particularly, Working Together

Opening a complaint for investigation in no way implies that the Office for Civil Rights (OCR) has made a determination about the merits of the complaint.

- Betsy DeVos

Determination, Made, About, Implies

It would be fine with me to have myself worked out of a job, but I'm not sure that - I'm not sure that there will be a champion movement in Congress to do that.

- Betsy DeVos

Will, Congress, Sure, Champion

There isn't really any Common Core any more. Each state is able to set the standards for their state. They may elect to adopt very high standards for their students to aspire to and to work toward. And that will be up to each state.

- Betsy DeVos

May, Very, Set, Elect

Education broadens our horizons and enables us to confront realities we'd never before anticipated.

- Betsy DeVos

Education, Never, Before, Enables

I expect there will be more schools of any kind that haven't even been invented yet.

- Betsy DeVos

Will, Expect, Been, Invented

Government tends to believe in top-down solutions, and government fears of bottom-up solutions.

- Betsy DeVos

Government, Bottom-Up, Tends

HBCUs are real pioneers when it comes to school choice. They are living proof that when more options are provided to students, they are afforded greater access and greater quality.

- Betsy DeVos

Living, Access, Pioneers, Living Proof

Dick and I became increasingly committed to helping other parents - parents from low-income families in particular.

- Betsy DeVos

Other, Became, Increasingly, Low-Income

Just as the traditional taxi system revolted against ride sharing, so too does the education establishment feel threatened by the rise of school choice.

- Betsy DeVos

Education, Against, Taxi, Rise

The older generations are too wedded to political parties, too wedded to romantic memories of what education was like when they were kids, and too wedded to the status quo group that clings to power.

- Betsy DeVos

Education, Like, Generations, Status Quo

I look forward to talking about how we can work together to improve educational opportunities and outcomes for all students while also refocusing the federal role in education.

- Betsy DeVos

Education, Role, Educational, Work Together

I support accountability.

- Betsy DeVos

Support, Accountability

My family is the largest single contributor of soft money to the national Republican Party.

- Betsy DeVos

Single, Largest, Contributor, Soft

Federal law must be followed where federal dollars are in play.

- Betsy DeVos

Law, Play, Must, Federal

When we had segregated schools and when we had a time when, you know, girls weren't allowed to have the same kind of sports teams - I mean, there have been important inflection points for the federal government to get involved in some of the areas around protecting students and ensuring safe environments for them - there is a role to play.

- Betsy DeVos

Play, Some, Been, Federal

If you can't get cell phone service in your living room, then your particular provider is failing you. You should have the option to find a network that does work.

- Betsy DeVos

Work, Living, Particular, Option

Homeschooling represents another perfectly valid educational option.

- Betsy DeVos

Represents, Valid, Perfectly, Option

The faculty, from adjunct professors to deans, tell you what to do, what to say, and more ominously, what to think.

- Betsy DeVos

Think, More, Tell, Professors

The vast majority of students in this country will continue to attend public schools.

- Betsy DeVos

Country, Attend, Public, Vast

My faith motivates me to really try to work on behalf of and advocate for those who are least able to advocate for themselves.

- Betsy DeVos

Work, Faith, Least, Behalf

Teaching is hard. It takes a lot of skill. Not everyone who tries can do it well. We need to admit that and act accordingly. We should reward and respect great teachers by paying them more, and we should stop rewarding seniority over effectiveness.

- Betsy DeVos

Rewarding, Teaching, Tries, Skill

I need to stress that I could not be more supportive of great teachers and great teaching, no matter what kind of delivery vehicle they are teaching through. We have to support great teachers. They just have to be freed up to do what they do best.

- Betsy DeVos

Stress, Through, Supportive, Vehicle

If confirmed, I will be a strong advocate for great public schools.

- Betsy DeVos

Strong, Will, Public, Advocate

Teachers deserve more respect than many give them, and more opportunities than the system affords them today.

- Betsy DeVos

Deserve, Give, System, Opportunities

Above all, I believe every child, no matter their ZIP code or their parents' jobs, deserves access to a quality education.

- Betsy DeVos

Access, Code, Zip, Quality

It is necessary and critical for states to have flexibility to determine how to identify and improve schools.

- Betsy DeVos

Flexibility, How, Necessary, Schools

All schools that receive public funding should be accountable, yes.

- Betsy DeVos

Accountable, Public, Receive, Schools

I expect there will be more virtual schools.

- Betsy DeVos

Will, Expect, Virtual, Schools

Too many children today are trapped in schools that don't work for them.

- Betsy DeVos

Children, Trapped, Too, Schools

I expect there will be more public charter schools.

- Betsy DeVos

Will, Expect, Public, Schools

We can focus on differences that divide us, or we can choose to listen and learn from each other's experiences.

- Betsy DeVos

Learn, Differences, Other, Divide

You have to have teachers who are empowered to facilitate great teaching.

- Betsy DeVos

Teachers, Facilitate, Empowered

If you ask any of my kids today what their most important experience was in their education, they would say it was the travel and the ability to see and be in other cultures.

- Betsy DeVos

Education, Say, Other, Cultures

The president has made good on a promise to ensure that the American people are not subject to overreach... and fulfilled a commitment to keep America first and focus on American jobs.

- Betsy DeVos

Made, Ensure, Subject, American People

We've seen more and more people opt for homeschooling, including in urban areas.

- Betsy DeVos

More, Including, More People, Urban Areas

We, as a society, will benefit from the interest young people show beginning at first, second, and third grades. As a result, there's great promise in the future.

- Betsy DeVos

Beginning, Young, Will, Benefit

At what point do we accept the fact that throwing money at the problem isn't the solution?

- Betsy DeVos

Problem, Fact, Throwing, Accept

No child's dream should be limited by the quality, or lack thereof, of the education they receive.

- Betsy DeVos

Education, Receive, Thereof, Lack

It shouldn't matter what type of school a student attends, so long as the school is the right fit for that student.

- Betsy DeVos

School, Student, Fit, Type

I will not be conflicted. Period. I commit that to you all.

- Betsy DeVos

You, Will, Commit, Period

Trump's vision continues taking shape.

- Betsy DeVos

Vision, Shape, Taking, Trump

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