competition only makes sense when there is an equal playing field - when the players have more or less the same access to the tools and resources necessary to compete. Betsy Devos' chartered school/public school argument is bound to be a failure because competition for top education (can't believe that that should even be a competition) can only be navigated by the middle-class & the wealthy, by the same group of people who already have privileged access to more opportunities. stats show that charter schools do not necessarily fare better than public schools, and that in Michigan, charter schools can continue to operate so long as they remain profitable, with little checks or restrictions to the standards that they provide.

i don't think that anyone who has led a sheltered life (incl. myself) should enter public service! if you were educated in a private school your entire life, and you move primarily in those same social circles with little real experiences or contact, then you definitely should NOT be leading the public.
i also don't believe that anyone whose religious values and beliefs form the core of their thought-process and way of life should enter public service (unless that 'public' privileges religion as a sacred institution). it is dangerous, not to mention regressive, for such people to lead. the 'public' is not a heterogenous mass, and that's a concept that seems to have been disregarded of late.