Good enough for my kid?

American values about education are never more clear than when we think about what we want for our own children.

I know that I’ve evaluated every classroom I ever observed on whether I would want my own child in that classroom. If I deemed the teacher excellent, I would be happy to have one of my kids in her class; if I found him or her less worthy, I’d be moving heaven and earth to get them into another classroom.

Most Americans are no different from me. We judge the quality of schools on whether the schools serve our own children well, and we use that same measuring stick when we make big picture decisions about what schools writ large should deliver.