“The current state of education reminds me of the failings of the U.S. automobile industry. Japanese automakers realized that the way to make a quality product was to listen to the workers on the assembly line (part of “The Kaizen Philosophy”). If something was wrong with the wheel, the assembly line stopped, and the wheel people were consulted. As we all know, the U.S. automakers fell behind Japanese automakers for a long time, needed a government bail-out and are just starting to get back on their feet. What will happen to education if states continue down this path of listening to the private-for-profit interests? What happens when our concerns about the very tests that evaluate teachers fall on deaf ears because state education departments would rather create a Ford Pinto instead of a Honda Accord?”
