It’s time for another split with jolly ol’ Blighty. Despite sharing many ills, such as uneven academic performance across different demographics, private schools besting public ones, and inner-city schools stuck at the bottom of the achievement heap, the Brits are trying to escape some of the very remedies the American system is currently pursuing--more than a few of which we modeled on theirs! National standards, national tests, national curriculum--the UK has them all. But the Conservative Party, favored to win in the upcoming May elections, now claims that these educational bedrocks are “stifling” British schools and children. It’s true that more school choice in England would be a good thing, but to scrap their national standards, tests, and curricula would be a gargantuan mistake.
“Between the U.S. and Britain, an ideological parting,” by Anne Applebaum, The Washington Post, March 16, 2010