> People have a really bad problem of analyzing what's wrong with schools. Part of the reason why is that we always want to think in terms of us-versus-them.
That's actually, IMO, not even close to the biggest problem. The main problem with analyzing what is wrong with the schools is that no one can agree to shared definition of the mission of the schools that admits to an easy objective measurement, and, that this is complicated by lots of people selling proposed metricsbased on their beliefs about what those metrics will be which will justify the policy prescriptions they already prefer, which are often based on prefered outcomes that are different than what the outcomes are advertised as proxies for measuring (and often based on concealed ideological or financial interest of the people selling them.)
Look at it this way: schools are political systems. Therefore, they exist and will continue to exist entirely based on the perceived value the voters are getting.
I seriously doubt voters sit down debating complicated metrics. Whatever the criteria that causes voters to vote one way or another is, you can be assured it is a simple one.
Sure, the nerdy, pointy-hat discussion is way down in the weeds, but that's not how political systems operate -- unless you're just trying to blow smoke up people's asses, in which case you can line up a dozen experts for and against anything you want. It's back to clanning and politics. This ain't engineering.
That's actually, IMO, not even close to the biggest problem. The main problem with analyzing what is wrong with the schools is that no one can agree to shared definition of the mission of the schools that admits to an easy objective measurement, and, that this is complicated by lots of people selling proposed metricsbased on their beliefs about what those metrics will be which will justify the policy prescriptions they already prefer, which are often based on prefered outcomes that are different than what the outcomes are advertised as proxies for measuring (and often based on concealed ideological or financial interest of the people selling them.)