> A decision handed down from "the top" is authoritarianism
Actually not so; it is only centralised. The democratic process is pretty clear that the people want education decisions handed down by an authority "at the top".
A decentralised approach to eduction would let parents make on-the-day decisions about where to send their children and probably have some sort of market-based approach to how education was funded (maybe even parent-pays). That approach has been mostly rejected politically.
Actually not so; it is only centralised. The democratic process is pretty clear that the people want education decisions handed down by an authority "at the top".
A decentralised approach to eduction would let parents make on-the-day decisions about where to send their children and probably have some sort of market-based approach to how education was funded (maybe even parent-pays). That approach has been mostly rejected politically.