Some years ago one of Obama’s people - Ben Rhodes - memorably made waves by claiming, truthfully enough, that young reporters “literally know nothing.” I’m reminded of this by the false claim ABC News made against Trump’s pick to head the Department of Education - Linda McMahon - less than a week ago.
In the first minute of an eight-minute overview, O’Brien stated that McMahon has no formal education training and little experience:
“If she receives Senate confirmation, McMahon, who has no formal teaching training and little experience in education, will be tasked with setting policies for the nation’s schools.”
This is patently false. While receiving a bachelor’s degree in French at East Carolina University in the late 1960s, McMahon earned a teaching certificate after completing a teacher preparation program at the school.
In fact at approximately this same late 60s era California - then (but no longer) an education leader - had abolished the Bachelor of Education degree statewide. Instead CA required all would-be teachers to accomplish a degree in a major and subsequently complete the teaching certificate program. This is exactly what McMahon did as a young woman.
I know this about CA because the other DrC followed that curriculum before we married and she explained the state’s rationale for doing so to me in some detail. Like everyone in her cohort in CA she completed a B.A. (hers in Social Studies/History) followed by a teaching credential program.
