Some of the most astute observers of our society—both in colonial times and in our own **— have been people from the other side of the Atlantic. Their perspective not distorted by living “in the fishbowl,” these commentators have offered us a fresh look at our own systems.

Coming off a day when we learned that our friends across the pond seem to use “American” as an adjective to denote “wacky” education ideas, you might wonder what our British friends have to say about our education system in general. Well wonder no longer. The Education Sector has published this interview with Sir Michael Barber, chief architect of Labor’s 1997 ambitious, centrally-driven, education reforms. These reforms saw the lowest performing districts in England able to out perform the national average after only three years. In the interview Barber offers his thoughts on NCLB, teachers unions, lessons to be learned from the British experience, and the biggest obstacles to education reform. It is easily one of the most interesting and thought provoking things I’ve read about education reform in a while.