Want the Feds To Run Local Public Schools?  Make ‘Em Get A Permission Slip from Parents

As the dean of a prominent graduate school of education noted in an article published several years ago:  "Schools are not the major cause of the achievement gap." He also noted how ineffective most education reforms have been and how little improvement we have seen.

It is understandable that as the head of an education school, he didn't want to see reform efforts transferred to other institutions. He still thought it was worthwhile to try to reform schools. (Schools are apparently a cause but not the major cause.) But maybe we have to start thinking the unthinkable. What could a society with decent intentions do to address what seems to be just an educational problem but isn't? What can current public school parents do to convince other adults that massive adolescent under-achievement cannot be solved by educational interventions no matter how much money is allocated to the public schools? How can these adults be persuaded that that it is damaging to all children's education to expect the wrong institutions (public schools and colleges) to keep on trying to solve the problem?