The major problem facing American education is the lack of citizen participation in school governance, which is symptomatic of the general low (but increasing) rate of active citizenship that permeates American politics. In education — where citizen participation can make the difference in school responsiveness to community needs — democratic decision making has been discouraged by the three major groups at the core of the system. School administrators, teacher organizations, and school boards are not willing to share the controls with parents and other citizens despite complaints about the quality of the educational product. The following article documents and explains the problems caused by the closed system of educational decision making, and proposes several steps that might lead to change.
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