Centralized Education Systems v. Local Control

Yesterday I had the opportunity to listen to a former DOE official discuss educational systems in other parts of the world. Much of her talk which took place in a very informal setting, focused on Singapore. She described a system that is free to everyone, tracks students according to merit, has virtually no dropout rate, and is able to graduate students who are then able to fill jobs needed in society. All this is paid for with only about 3% of Singapore's gross domestic product. (The U.S. spends about 6% on K-12) The entire system is directed by strict centralized planning and control of the educational system.

This is a marked contrast to the way we operate our educational systems in t he United States. Since the first mandatory public education systems were established in the 1830's education has always been subject to local control. As our discussion developed we began to talk about the thousands of local school boards in this country and the relative merits and abilities of individual school board members. Our system is considered broken by many, Singapore's is being held up as a model of efficiency and accomplishment. Even if we assume that is true, the question must be ask - Would individual Americans be willing to give up local control of their schools? If not, how can we hope to compete with the rest of the world, most of which has centralized systems?