Betsy DeVos, Donald Trump's Secretary of Education nominee, is a strong advocate of religious, private, and charter schools, who herself has no professional experience in education. She is clearly an unconventional choice for the post. Beyond her credentials, much has been made of DeVos's religious commitments and her own education in the Dutch Reformed Private School system. It is unsurprising that her religious commitments are a cause for concern for secular groups—but apprehension over DeVos's appointment is not and should not be limited to them. Public education is a good that Christians must work for not in spite of their faith, but because of it.
Before I go on, I have a confession to make: I am a product of the same Dutch Reformed Christian private school system that produced Betsy DeVos and to which she's donated millions of dollars. I taught in one of their institutions of higher education. Because I'm praying she doesn't get confirmed by the Senate, you might be expecting me to disparage the educational system I grew up in. Too often, evangelical schools like the one I attended from preschool to high school are portrayed as academically unsatisfying, scientifically illiterate, or in some other way stereotypically detrimental—especially to a brown skinned immigrant kid with a big mouth and a progressive bent like myself.
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