Thread by @donmoyn

Same energy

The underlying ethos here is Jacksonian populism: the idea that public work requires no special expertise or discretion, and must be subject to close political control.
This is the ethos that ushered in the spoils system, mass corruption and incompetence. college.cengage.com/history/ayers_…

The problem with the Jacksonian view is that public work is actually hard (simple tasks get privatized).

Teaching is complex, and to be done well requires professional expertise. For expertise to improve performance you have to give teachers discretion to use it.

One irony is that the proponents of parental control of public schools are also proponents of private/charter schools in order to shield them from democratic oversight.
In other words, it is only certain types of democratic accountability they support.

The other problem is that parents disagree about what the task of teaching is. For some it is student performance, or enhancing opportunity, or a well-rounded student.
For others, it is protecting their right not to be offended. (Example from Texas).

Pompeo is a West Point grad. Perhaps he should return there and tell the graduates that their parents should determine the curriculum. Better yet, why not let tell military leaders that their parents are going to run things from now on? Who needs expertise?

This is definitely the most divisive thing I've ever tweeted based on responses.
So I'm going to double down and write a post about professional autonomy in schools in the coming days!

Feel free to subscribe, and check out a previous relevant entry. donmoynihan.substack.com/p/bullshit-bra…

If you liked the above tweet, or hated it, here is a longer post on why undermining the autonomy of school officials is actually a bad thing donmoynihan.substack.com/p/making-publi…