For people who like to think of themselves as being "exceptional," Americans can sometimes abandon the very principles their exceptionality is founded on.
Nowhere is this more apparent than in the current debate of education policy.
A feature that has long made America's public school system exceptional for sure is its governance through democratically elected local school boards. The way this has been working, according to the National School Boards Association, is that your local school board "represents the public’s voice in public education, providing citizen governance for what the public schools need and what the community wants."
Any power a school board has is generated through the exercise of democracy. When you don't agree with decisions made by your board members, "it is your right as a voter to select new board members who will see to it that your students and your schools succeed."
How American is that?
But now, many of the loudest voices in the nation's education debate tell us that is completely and utterly wrong.
These new extremists are Republicans and Democrats. They are extremely well financed and connected. They adorn their arguments with the language of "opportunity" and "sustained excellence." But what they really represent is a mindset unwilling to fight things out on a democratic playing field, no matter how unlevel. Instead, they aim to eliminate the playing field altogether.