Hostages No More: The Fight for Education Freedom and the Future of the American Child
- Downloads：4014
- Type：Epub+TxT+PDF+Mobi
- Create Date：2022-07-11 11:21:44
- Update Date：2025-09-06
- Status：finish
- Author：Betsy DeVos
- ISBN：1668615827
- Environment：PC/Android/iPhone/iPad/Kindle
Reviews
Mike Hawkins
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Absolute eye-opening account of the school system in the United States。 A must read for anybody concerned with the freedom to choose education！
Vincent Lombardo
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I found this memoir difficult and irritating to read。 The narrative shifts back and forth in time， and there are too many minor and boring details。 Since there are so many other things that I would rather read， I gave up。I decided to read this book after seeing Betsy DeVos speak at the City Club of Cleveland。 （My wife and I spoke to her afterwards， and she was very gracious and took a lot of time to talk to us and others。） If you want to know what this book is about， watch the City Club Forum， h I found this memoir difficult and irritating to read。 The narrative shifts back and forth in time， and there are too many minor and boring details。 Since there are so many other things that I would rather read， I gave up。I decided to read this book after seeing Betsy DeVos speak at the City Club of Cleveland。 （My wife and I spoke to her afterwards， and she was very gracious and took a lot of time to talk to us and others。） If you want to know what this book is about， watch the City Club Forum， here: https://www。cityclub。org/forums/2022/。。。The forum is one hour。 City Club CEO Dan Moulthrop did a great job interviewing DeVos， and she is challenged many times during the Q&A period。 。。。more
Eve
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Why is she hawking trash books that have no better use than to line a hamster's cage。 She knows nothing about Education。 We thought we got rid of you in 2020。 Apparently not。 Go away。 Why is she hawking trash books that have no better use than to line a hamster's cage。 She knows nothing about Education。 We thought we got rid of you in 2020。 Apparently not。 Go away。 。。。more
Jenny
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Has Betsy ever even seen a public school in person？ Screw this hosebeast and her anti-education propaganda
Ashley
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what the fuck， a book about education by someone who doesn't read 。。 what the fuck， a book about education by someone who doesn't read 。。 。。。more
s。penkevich
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While reading I couldn't help but notice there is something so hollow to the vanity project Hostages No More by Betsy DeVos， a public figure who’s name brings eyerolls and exasperated sighs here in her hometown of Holland， Michigan。 It isn’t the lackluster content， which offers nothing you haven’t heard before and even the backpedaling and rather salty commentary on the ‘undisciplined White House’ or ‘dysfunctional’ GOP senate aren’t even that interesting， but rather the evasive ways DeVos addre While reading I couldn't help but notice there is something so hollow to the vanity project Hostages No More by Betsy DeVos， a public figure who’s name brings eyerolls and exasperated sighs here in her hometown of Holland， Michigan。 It isn’t the lackluster content， which offers nothing you haven’t heard before and even the backpedaling and rather salty commentary on the ‘undisciplined White House’ or ‘dysfunctional’ GOP senate aren’t even that interesting， but rather the evasive ways DeVos addresses her own arguments。 If one wanted to truly understand the toxicity of “West Michigan nice”—the passive aggressive and evasive behavior that makes the middle-class people of the region often feel like fingernails on a chalkboard but in ways you can’t quite argue against without being told you are the aggressor—this book would be the perfect introduction。 It often feels very unserious， particularly as she doesn’t even believe much of her own statements and her claims are so divorced from the reality of her history of actions that you might find yourself checking the cover to be sure， yes， this is Betsy DeVos’ book。 DeVos confesses she ‘does not have a way with words，’ which is an understatement， and this book winds its way through generic talking points and bad faith rhetoric to deliver her ultimate point that she wishes to dismantle public education for school of choice between private and charter schools。The book begins with a brief bootstraps myth building narrative about her family where DeVos describes a sanitized and idyllic version of the Holland， Mi of her childhood。 Betsy DeVos is the daughter of Elsa and Edgar Prince and sister to Erik Prince （best known for his mercenary group Blackwater and war crimes such as the Nisour Square massacre）。 Her husband， Dick DeVos， inherited the Amway fortune and serves as CEO。 Between the two families they are the largest political donors in the state of Michigan， closely tied with groups ranging anywhere from Focus on the Family and American Federation for Children， to groups like Moms for Liberty who have been in the news frequently of late for their campaign to ban books in public schools and libraries。 They are also very involved in local politics， supporting Michigan GOP candidates such as Bill “Handsy” Huizenga （who wrote the anti-transparency bill to hide Russian investments in oil as well as signed on to attempt to invalidate Michigan voters ballots）， and own most of downtown。 Ask anyone who has worked in a Prince owned building will tell you how shady the property management company， Lumir is， and I have personally read an email from Elsa Prince stating that public restrooms attract “the wrong type of people to downtown”。 It should be noted that these families are some of the largest donors to anti-choice groups， so the removal of bodily autonomy and medical privacy by the Supreme Court is largely funded by them。 They also backed a failed re-election campaign for former Holland Mayor Nancy DeBoer who ran almost entirely on the messaging that allowing equal housing protections to queer people would ruin the local economy。 Not， you know， their manipulation of local officials to continuously raise property rates and remove low income housing while also complaining “nobody wants to work anymore” in the minimum wage jobs in the same city they are making expensive to live within。The Prince family is also known locally for astroturfing movements such as one in recent years to block housing protections for LGBTQ+ peoples and just last year against a redistricting to allow for more mixed income housing。 Adding that Holland is a former sundown town and there is no mention of any of these operations in her book， one begins to see what Betsy really means when she claims teaching American history in public schools is about hating America。 Which is always a bad argument， because if knowing something will make you dislike a country， maybe don’t do it in the first place。 I think the shame should be on those who committed bad acts and not teachers for educating people on them。 Had I learned about the US funding coups and propping up dictators across Latin America in school it would have felt a lot less of a betrayal to have to learn it on my own reading novels from outside the US。 The book is bookended by the standard right wing conversation about COVID that I’m sure everyone is already exhausted from hearing， making it a weird choice to frame everything between。 As you can guess Bestie is upset that public schools were closed or online， something she says was shameful。 She neglects to mention that both private and charter schools also did this， and locally tended to have stricter restrictions that lasted longer than the public schools， so the argument really feels disingenuous。 After several pages of arguing that learning from the home is detrimental to education， she uses this to make the case for…wait for it…withdrawing from public schools and homeschooling。 Which is representative of how much of this book and her trains of thought work， less a logical or even rational building of points towards a proposed solution but as if each paragraph were chosen from a dartboard of conservative talking points while blindfolded with a fifth of bourbon。 She brings up the sexual assault allegations against Trump and dismisses them by saying Bill Clinton had affairs， then awkwardly segues this into a lengthy and convoluted argument against Title IX in which she claims the real victim of sexual assault allegations are the boys。 She heavily leans on the 2014 Rolling Stones article about the allegations at the University of Virginia that were later retracted to make a case that she believes Title IX is just a harbor for college women to lie about rape as a weapon against men。 Throw in some bad-faith trans bathroom fearmongering and you can pretty much figure out how this section of the book goes。There are a few surprising moments， Betsy comes out in favor of Red Flag laws， is rather critical of the Trump administration which she believes hindered her progress， and weirdly takes credit for the prosecution of Larry Nassar， but this book can be boiled down to two main ideas:1。 Obama era laws should be repealed and 2。 any school is better than a traditional public school， simply because it is not operated by government。 The government bit is interesting because much of Betsy’s plans involve funneling public funds into private schools， something the Supreme Court has opened the door for just this week。 Much of this book is Betsy claiming she cares about the kids， but her record of vouchers and charter schools seems to indicate it is less about the kids and more about power and， simply put， privatization。 Also she has a strong belief in theocracy that has been compared to a crusade， and not unlike the Children’s Crusade of her theocratic ancestors， it is one that is most harmful to the children involved。 Her claim that public schools are wasting money seems to sidestep how much DeVos over the course of her career has little respect for the legal guidelines of finance。 In 2014 she hired Scott Jensen for her American Federation for Children 501（c）， a man charges with multiple felonies for misusing public tax dollars for partisan political purposes and using the office as the Republican Assembly Speaker to direct that state employees to perform campaign work at public expense。 Her All Children Matter PAC was fined $5。3million in 2008 for illegally funneling campaign money in Ohio， a fine that DeVos never paid。 In her home state of Michigan， a 2014 report cited that DeVos’ school programs had fraudulently used state funds to the tune of $1billion， including operations costs for schools that were never actually built。 Very recent， Betsy’s own charter school orgs have put forth a petition， Let MI Kids Learn， to funnel millions of dollars in public school money towards private schools in Michigan and offers extended tax breaks to corporations who donate to private schools。 It would not be a ballot proposal and is essentially buying legislation。 Using a loophole in Michigan law that states a petitioner has no legal responsibility to tell the truth about a petition， the group has been asking for signatures under the guise that it would increase funding for public schools and lower taxes。 Videos have surfaced online of the proposal group encouraging petitioners to lie in order to get signatures。 If DeVos encourages lying to win， there’s little reason to take anything said in this book as truth。 As James Baldwin wrote ‘ I can't believe what you say， because I see what you do。’Her claims that she is using school vouchers because she wants to help marginalized students and believes the public school system is racist against Black students also reads as very disingenous， particularly after a lot of handwringing about schools being ‘woke’ and baseless claims that they teach CRT in elementary schools。 Also her husband started a charter school exclusively for white boys， so， sure Betsy， sounds legit。 DeVos’ school of choice experiment began here in Holland， Mi， and is pretty widely regarded as a disaster。 It caused massive white flight， with a 60% decline in white students from the public schools。 In the 2009-2010 school year alone， 64% of choice students left the public school for a less diverse school district， and it has frequently been argued that DeVos’ school of choice is de facto segregation。 A major argument in this book is that American schools are underperforming， claiming public schools are below other countries， though none of her data adjusts for population size or anything， and many of her claims have been debunked even by the GOP thinktank Hoover Institution。 Which is indicative of much of this book: make some claims and assume the reader will just trust that its real。 Not unlike the Big Lie， which she does try to distance herself from to be fair。 It all comes together for a really bizarre argument however。 DeVos spends much of the book arguing that schools have failed students and that the American population is behind in all subject levels。 Her solution is that these same people that have been failed by education should make the decisions instead of educators。 Let that sink in。 It’s the whole laughable idea that gumption alone is the only way to do anything and that any form of education is too biased。 You are free to do whatever you want， except have an academically informed opinion。 Oh also Betsy DeVos was a Jeb！ supporter and claims to have been reluctant to accept Trump as the party candidate。 PleaseClap。gifSimply put， this book is a half-hearted mashup of bland rhetoric and regurgitated talking points that never quite make the case for dismantling public schools that she thinks it does。 The only thing clever about it is the masking of overt racism and class-warfare。 The book is best summed up by her own metaphor: Bestie D argues that her school of choice program is like how we now have many streaming options from netflix， HBO， Disney， etc。 and how much better is that than when everything was on Netflix。 Personally， I’d rather pay less for fewer networks that have more on them than more for 20 that only have a few things I want， but the point isn’t actually the choices: its the privatization。 Also the gatekeeping （Holland Christian， for example， is $800 a month to attend）。Yet somehow even more laughable than this book is EducationNext's review' of it that compares her to。。。get ready for this。。。Alyosha from The Brothers Karamazov。 The author writes that Holland， Mi is 'the City of Churches， and， it is said， the social capital of the world。' Literally nobody says this。 But if you hangout downtown you’ll find people saying the sangria is too spicy…While I don't claim to have the answer to mass education， I do know that destroying it to replace it with christian nationalist privatized education is not it。 Besty comes across as very hostile to any education that does not center white， straight， christian messaging to the point of actively funding groups that harm educators and librarians for self-serving reasons。 Even the crusade against queer books is less about the books themselves and more about sewing distrust in public institutions。 Bestie is the classic example of claiming something doesn't work， then purposely harming it so she can say "see？！" She is someone who believes the ends justify the means， and when those most harmed on the path are under-served communities and marginalized groups， she sees it as achieving。 It's gross and all her posturing in this book is so flimsy。 In closing， Betsy DeVos delivers hollow statements and backpedals on the more damning parts of the previous administration， but is certainly eager to keep her white christian nationalist movement going forward。 She is a grifter and always will be。 。。。more
Barbara S。
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A look at the possibilities for education without politicsThis is a glimpse into how the education industry is perpetuating adult power and political interests rather than giving all children the freedom to learn。 I am more impressed with Betsy decides dedication than ever。 A must read！
Gary
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Look at all the close-minded Marxist “educators” who haven’t read the book。
MollyK
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What。 The。 Fuck。
MFire
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This book runs counter to the dogma of my political tribe and is written by opposing scum that is the enemy of that tribe。 Reading anything counter to my current belief structures could cause painful cognitive dissonance。 Since Betsy DeVos is an obvious partisan hack， there is no reason to read this book because I know it's trash。 I am not a partisan hack。 I am a critical thinker。 The right just wants to control me。 I must be diligent and speak out。 Silence is Violence， War Is Peace， Freedom Is This book runs counter to the dogma of my political tribe and is written by opposing scum that is the enemy of that tribe。 Reading anything counter to my current belief structures could cause painful cognitive dissonance。 Since Betsy DeVos is an obvious partisan hack， there is no reason to read this book because I know it's trash。 I am not a partisan hack。 I am a critical thinker。 The right just wants to control me。 I must be diligent and speak out。 Silence is Violence， War Is Peace， Freedom Is Slavery， and Ignorance Is Strength。 。。。more
Mary Capps
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