Recently there has been a lot of talk about Michele Rhee as Education secretary. As someone who grew up in DC and went to school with her as chancellor, I feel like it is my duty to make it known exactly why she is an absolutely awful choice, and why Trump will most likely choose her. Here it is in list form (please share, comment, etc):

1) Michelle Rhee is an opportunist: Michele Rhee isn't a teacher. There is a reason her resume includes only three years as a teacher, she simply doesn't have the patience to teach or educate. Instead she moves from one job to the next - Teach for America, The New Teacher Project, DCPS, StudentsFirst, and now Trump. She latches on to whoever and whatever will help one person (and guess what? That isn't any student or educator, its Michele Rhee) and stays until she can find some greater calling.

2) Michelle Rhee is a dictator: When Adrian Fenty entered office and announced Rhee as the new chief of DCPS he also announced the dissolution of the elected school board in favor of sole control riding in one woman: Michelle Rhee. And indeed, Rhee has numerous times proven that she desires control with no accountability, indeed, when faced with protests and dissent, Rhee pushed on. Even after Fenty was beaten badly for reelection, in a race in which her tenure became one of the largest issues, Rhee continues to view her tenure as positive.

3) Michelle Rhee is not a teacher: You can't make this up, prior to her appointment as chancellor of DCPS, Rhee spent a grand total of three years as a teacher in Baltimore Maryland. She was literally a college student longer then she was a teacher. Furthermore, her teaching record - should you look it up - is absolutely terrifying. Her teaching career was chock full of bloated test score increases to begin with. Indeed much of her record as an actual teacher is simply what she will admit. Records are rare, and hard to find, but those few rumors that trickle out? They include stories of her taping students' mouths shut, screaming fits, potential score manipulation, and other travesties.

4) Michelle Rhee is a liar: Michelle Rhee claims scores went up during her tenure as DCPS chancellor; we may never know due to persistent charges of score manipulation that have since come out. Michelle Rhee claims she is focused solely on the student's behalf; yet many of the teachers she fired (claiming they were chronically absent, violent towards kids, etc) were beloved within their schools by students and staff both (from personal experience I have very rarely met anyone who had a teacher fired by Rhee who praised the firing). Rhee claims to be focussed on improving education without bias; yet fired the well liked, highly successful principal of the DCPS her children (at the time) attended due to a public spat between said Principal and Rhee. Michelle Rhee claims she works to improve the lives of poor and minority students; yet as DCPS chancellors she closed numerous schools, mostly in poor and majority-minority neighborhoods. Michelle Rhee will claim that her reforms saved money; yet her school closures in fact cost DC taxpayers millions.

5) Talk to anyone who was a DCPS student at the time. I know very few who look forward to Michelle Rhee presiding over the department of education. Why? Because we remember going to school in a culture where the teachers were scared that any day could be their last. We remember having to worry whether Michelle Rhee would fire our favorite teacher because said teacher forgot to write the 'learning objective' on the board when her crony - who often had never taught for a day in their lives - came to 'grade' our teachers. Because we remember Michelle Rhee.

Share, like, add other stuff you can think of. I have no doubt Donald Trump will choose just as bad of an education secretary as he has the rest of his so-called cabinet of racists, neonazis, and relics of a past era, but if Rhee is the pick and I didn't speak out, I would feel pretty fucking shitty.

Also, I went to school in DCPS during her term as chancellor, so if you have any questions I can probably answer them.