Although it was a very close vote in the Senate, Betsy DeVos is now the secretary of education. But if you think the confirmation battle was tough, the challenges she will now face are truly daunting.

The battle over the DeVos nomination was just the latest episode in a decades-old debate among education leaders: Is it better to put someone in charge who has spent a career inside traditional education, or bring someone in who has watched and participated from the outside?