Broad hints are dropped that, if there is a problem, it's confined to other people's children in other communities. Then, of course, there is the fantasy that America's education crisis is a fraud, something invented by enemies of public schools. Now is no time for complacency. Such illusions and denials endanger the nation's future and the future of today's children. Good education has become absolutely indispensable for economic success, both for individuals and for American society.
Good education is the great equalizer of American society.
As we become more of a meritocracy the quality of one's education matters more. That creates both unprecedented opportunities for those who once would have found the door barred and huge new hurdles for those burdened by inferior education. America today faces a profound test of its commitment to equal educational opportunity. The commissioners trusted that good advice would be followed, that the system would somehow fix itself, and that top-down reforms would suffice. But they did not offer a political or structural-change strategy to turn these reforms into reality.