A former U.S. vice president and presidential candidate says he has been a “very vocal critic” of the Trump administration and that he believes the country’s current education system is not “proficient” enough to be “reformulated.”
In a statement to BuzzFeed News, former vice president Mike Pence said he believes that Trump’s policies are “very bad for America.”
Pence, a former Indiana governor, is the president-elect of the United States, and he is a member of the Republican Party.
He said he is “very passionate about the role of education in our society, and it is my hope that this presidency will provide us with a full range of opportunities to bring our students into the American dream.”
The former president is not the only Trump critic in the White House, however.
His administration is already in the midst of a push to overhaul the education system after a series of incidents in which teachers and other staff were harassed and some educators were fired for protesting Trump’s travel ban and his response to the mass shooting at a historically black church in South Carolina.
Trump himself was a critic of the school reform movement.
In a letter last week, Trump’s Education Secretary Betsy DeVos called for schools to become “reinvented and revitalized” in ways that include incorporating a more liberal curriculum and increasing diversity among teachers.
“Education is a fundamental element in a healthy society and the Trump Administration has a lot to do with it,” Pence said in the statement.
“I am passionate about teaching and want to see a diverse and talented workforce, but I am also committed to a strong, free, and fair educational system.”
The Trump administration’s education policy is expected to be unveiled next week.