Betsy DeVos, the owner of a $40-million yacht that went adrift, would like nothing more than to be left alone by reporters and the public at-large. She craves privacy despite her role as Secretary of Education because, according to her, “I don’t enjoy the publicity that comes with my position. I don’t love being up on stage or on any kind of platform. I’m an introvert.”
At the National Education Writers Association conference in Baltimore, Maryland, on Monday, she expressed frustration with the media’s obsession with reporting on her and the decisions she makes about education in the United States! “As much as many in the media use my name as clickbait or try to make it all about me, it’s not,” DeVos said, adding that “education is not about Betsy DeVos nor any other individual.”
Though her position is ostensibly about managing a $70-billion budget to improve the country’s education system, DeVos has instead improved it for some (straight white boys) and made it much worse for others (everyone else) by rolling back protections for LGBTQ people, survivors of sexual assault, and people of color. Pointing this out is apparently very rude to Betsy DeVos. It would far more considerate to allow her dismantle civil rights quietly, without making such a fuss about it. She is shy, after all.