Who Gets to Say

The following quote highlights an important reason why our citizens need to be engaged in discussing and helping shape education policy:  “From a democratic perspective, the question isn’t whether there should be higher standards or a common core curriculum; it is who gets to say what the standards and curriculum should be.  That’s where a meaningful public voice seems to be missing, whether it is at the local, state, or federal level.  And being kept on the sidelines may be one of the reasons a lot of Americans have lost confidence in our system of schooling.”  This quote appeared in a Kettering Foundation research report entitled “Putting the Public Back into Public Education:  An Old-Fashioned Remedy for a Troubled Relationship (2015).”  A highly regarded international research institution, the Kettering Foundation’s primary research question is:  What does it take to make democracy work as it should?