The hierarchy of allegations flows from university to secondary school and down through the grades. Outside of education, many business and political leaders label our whole enterprise as a failure and plot privatization. In both instances I find the discourse tired and uninformed. All of public education in the United States, but particularly K-12, is an accurate expression of our people and their representatives.
Education is our largest institution and the one most democratically governed.
Authority comes up from the people to their local and state boards of education, as well as ultimately to state legislatures. On one level, the schools are a creation of government, so I am struck by the irony of politicians who damn the same public schools they have established. As an educator, it is clear to me that state government is the single most important source of authority over schools. The right to function is given or taken away by the state. The rules of operation are state authored.