Oklahoma Editor: Status Quo Isn't Working

The Oklahoman and the Tulsa World are the two largest newspapers in the state. What's third? The Lawton Constitution? Norman Transcript? Good guesses, but the correct answer is The Baptist Messenger, now under the capable leadership of executive editor Douglas Baker.

"As the 2010 academic year begins," Baker writes in a new article ('A nation still at risk'), "there is little doubt that the United States cannot sustain itself with the current educational apparatus in place." And the shortcomings of the current system have spurred some noticeable changes:

Almost 2 million students are now homeschooled (almost 3 percent of the entire school-aged population) and there is no sign of decline. School choice, charter schools and vouchers dominate discussions of education reform. The need is so critical that even politics is often put aside to address the root of the problem. Adapting educational opportunities and delivery systems to the free market of supply and demand has resulted in shocking discoveries for many government and business leaders. When given a choice as to where their children will go to school, most parents prefer options that are not determined by the federal or state government. Rather, they prefer to choose for themselves who will teach their children.