Jay Mathews observes,

As much as they deny it, they [educators] really don’t like outsiders messing with the way they do their jobs. … The problem is that schools, unlike most institutions, are handling parents’ most precious possessions, their children. That aggravates the emotional side of the discussion. It makes it more likely that smart educators are going to write off parents as interfering idiots, even if they actually have a good idea and data to prove it.

Such is the case with Wake County’s school reassignment plan. Come to think of it, teachers are particularly sensitive to parents “meddling” in classroom affairs, as well.

I have to conclude that Mathews really does not understand the problem. It has little to do with “the emotional side of the discussion” and has much to do with the fact that monopolies are never customer or parent-friendly entities. They like it like that.