In the emerging school culture of digital competence, the focus should be on the questions students ask rather than on the answers they are expected to give. That would require some important structural changes in public schools. First, central offices devoted to preparing, approving and managing standardized tests should be phased out. Measuring one student against the next is not the way of the future. Filling up thousands of pages with test results until the whole country is glutted with invidious comparisons of schools and school districts is a travesty of good education. Second, decentralization of education is critically needed. For example, the textbook approval process could be closed down without any loss to anybody to anybody except the publishing industry. Third, community involvement in the nuts and bolts of education is overdue. Major studies of public education over the past 50 years have recommended engaging community persons and institutions in every day teaching practices. Teacher unionism has road-blocked those efforts. Fourth, compulsory school attendance is obsolete. Some related evils are mediocre instruction, classroom boredom and class-skipping. Fifth, important curriculum decisions should be decentralized so that parents and students play a significant part in deciding what is taught. In summary, democracy in education as a prime value can only flourish in a democratic framework.
