When I pointed out the inadequacies of student performances, principles invariably blamed uncaring parents. The few who are learning, get in on their own. There are good teachers, of course, but we should not let one or two good apples fool us into thinking that the barrel is not rotten. That is a good point . Parental control is no guarantee of high standards, but it will usually act as a brake on the social experimentation that is pushed by the experts.
Consolidation is at the beginning of public education.
The establishment of state superintendents in the mid-19th century was the first step toward the centralization of power in the hands of experts. TJF Fleming's article on American education is long on ideology and short on facts. Public education began as an attempt to train workers for an industrial economy. The changes that are taking place today in public education have little to do with unions, but with the needs once again of corporate interests. Fleming's recommendations for school reform are vague at best.