The United States Department of Education made a valiant attempt to quote one of the great African American thinkers and writers Sunday morning, but didn’t get much love for it, thanks to the inability to correctly spell the man’s name.
“Education must not simply teach work – it must also teach life,” it reads, the attributing the quote to “W.E.B DeBois.”
As many on Twitter pointed out quickly, it’s Du Bois.
Many also pointed out that a typo in the name of one of the most important figures in African-American history might be forgivable if it came from anyone other than the agency charged with governing standards and practices for the entire infrastructure of the United States.
It also might be forgiven if new Education Secretary Betsy DeVos hadn’t had such a hard time answering basic questions about education in her confirmation hearings, or had President Donald Trump not implied that he believed Frederick Douglass to still be alive.
The tweet was still up and still incorrect more than three hours after originally posted.
