Strong local communities are the best habitat for excellence in education and education is the responsibility of the whole community. Many are impoverished in both economic and societal terms. Perhaps they should not, even cannot, be responsible for their student's education. Tip O'Neil's famous aphorism on the local nature of politics should be applied to education.
All education is local.
There is, therefore, no more crucial issue to the discussion of standards than the role of local communities in setting those standards. In fact, I suggest that the Rural Challenge's policy statement on standards should be strengthened to eliminate the opportunity for paternalistic judgments made against local communities. I suggest the changes first because the word strong may well open rural communities to improper external judgments that have negative outcomes. There are several predictable outcomes. Paternalism is substituted for partnership and for local democratic action.