> Here in Germany, we have an entire bureaucratic apparatus (the Ministries of Education) to hold school staff accountable. For me, the US system is simply incomprehensible because it is plainly visible that the system can be commandeered by tiny minority action groups that have a lot of free time (i.e. conservative pensioners).
At least in my experience, most of the people who bother to research candidates and vote in school board elections are parents with kids in the public system. Turnout is typically low because those people are the only ones with skin in the game. Pensioners typically don't care as long as their taxes don't go up.
The plus side to this system is that you get much more direct accountability. In the German system, if your Ministry of Education is performing poorly, how would you effect change? Vote for a national party and hope that they have the will and political capital to fight an entrenched bureaucracy that will delay and fillibuster any attempt at reform?
From the US side of things, it's incomprehensible that you'd have so much faith in a bureaucratic entity that makes competition (homeschooling) illegal, and would want less direct democracy by voters.
> In the German system, if your Ministry of Education is performing poorly, how would you effect change? Vote for a national party and hope that they have the will and political capital to fight an entrenched bureaucracy that will delay and fillibuster any attempt at reform?
You'd vote in the state elections which are every four to five years. As for the bureaucracy - if there is one thing we Germans are famous for, it's the neutrality of our apparatus. With the exception of the police and military (which tend to be more on the authoritarian right scale), it does not matter who is in government - there is no "deep state". All the people in the administration are not employees, they are state servants ("Beamte") who have sworn an oath on the Constitution and to observe political neutrality while carrying out their duties.
As for home schooling, this is actively distrusted in Germany because our education system is decently funded and the only ones actually wanting to homeschool are religious nutjobs.
School boards are much more local affairs. So rather than a state, it's just your town or a small group of towns in a rural area.
That means that upturning the entire system is actually quite difficult, but allows for much more flexibility with regards to community norms. We're traditionally nonhomogenous in aggregate in the US but have a lot of communities with shared values and have decided the best way to administrate that is to allow for flexibility within state guidelines.
At least in my experience, most of the people who bother to research candidates and vote in school board elections are parents with kids in the public system. Turnout is typically low because those people are the only ones with skin in the game. Pensioners typically don't care as long as their taxes don't go up.
The plus side to this system is that you get much more direct accountability. In the German system, if your Ministry of Education is performing poorly, how would you effect change? Vote for a national party and hope that they have the will and political capital to fight an entrenched bureaucracy that will delay and fillibuster any attempt at reform?
From the US side of things, it's incomprehensible that you'd have so much faith in a bureaucratic entity that makes competition (homeschooling) illegal, and would want less direct democracy by voters.
https://m.dw.com/en/us-judge-grants-german-homeschooling-fam...