Though public education has largely been absent from election conversation, Bernie Sanders' wife and potential First Lady Jane Sanders sat down with education writer Nikhil Goyal to discuss how the Sanders' feel about some of the major topics.

During the interview, Sanders slammed the reliance on standardized testing in the country, supported expanding personalized learning, and discussed the need for more creativity in schools.

As the potential future First Lady, Sanders said she would dedicate a good portion of her time to exploring how countries around the world approach education and what could be learned from their systems here in America.

"I see my overall role, if I had the honor, as listening to the voices here in America that are not being heard and putting them out there for people to hear, but also researching and learning some of the best practices everywhere else and bringing them back here and letting them be heard as well. Kind of a megaphone,” she said.

One of the more interesting parts of the interview was when Sanders expressed support for the Gates’ influence in education regardless of their support of the standardization in education that she slammed earlier.

Despite her husband Bernie Sanders’ intention to reduce the impact America’s wealthy has on the economy and elections, when asked about how wealthy individuals like Bill and Melinda Gates use their money to influence education, Sanders called their motives “pure.”

"I think that some of them, like Bill and Melinda Gates, have very pure motives. They really want to help. I think that they should be part of the discussion,” Sanders said.

Read the full interview here.

Nicole Gorman, Education World Contributor

5/2/2016