WHO SHOULD CONTROL EDUCATION, AND TO WHAT EXTENT?

Question:  The U.S. Department of Education has added a new layer of bureaucracy to many aspects of education. It is difficult to argue that education has improved in the years since the Department was established. If the Department were to be abolished, then more control would be granted to states and local authorities. But would we then find ourselves in the position that each local authority might eventually develop vastly different curricula for core subjects? Books that are read and studied in Idaho might differ greatly from books that are studied in New York. Would we still be able to establish commonality in our shared heritage? Projecting further, could an engineer/doctor/teacher/researcher from one part of the country offer vastly different techniques and opinions than a counterpart raised in another area, and would that be a good thing, or not?

Local control is necessary in order to honor the freedom of stakeholders to chart their own destiny, but how do we ensure that knowledge and skills are properly inculcated?