Why Singapore and Estonia's EdTech Works, but America's Doesn't?

It's a problem that government organizations are incapable of defending their interests never mind understanding that they even have an interest.

A classic example is the local bus company which runs ads for a car dealer on the outside of buses. It's the kind of sight that instantly creates a feeling that "the lights are on and nobody is home" and drives populism -- you see that and the one thing you can do is "go on strike" and try to pay as little in taxes as possible.

They make all kinds of excuses but the basic asymmetry is this: the car dealer is capable of acting on its own interests and will never show an ad for the bus company. The same is true with those EdTech companies, they can get their voice heard, but the school district, the teachers, the students, the parents, not at all. It is all an unaccountability machine.

US school districts spend little on acquisition governance, yet have a lot of autonomy. They occupy a Purgatory within the traditional fed-state-local structure. Tech salespeople run roughshod over them, and they end up too many ‘cool’ things that are unharmonized, unmanageable or unused. Reform is a hill-by-hill slog.