The Case Against Public Education ( Abolish it!)

American Thinker ^ | December 26, 2012 | By Daren Jonescu

[wintertime]

If public education is allowed to survive, all efforts to resuscitate the inert husk of modern civilization will fail. It is time to unravel the most wasteful and destructive entitlement program of all. .

(snip)

For years, reasonable and serious people have known that the educational establishment is at the root of the undoing of modernity and its natural political fruit, individual liberty. And for years, excepting a tiny, brave minority of parents and educators, most citizens have assumed that the problems of the education system, however grave, are to be resolved through legislative reforms, bureaucratic changes, or school board activism.

Such methods, though often undertaken with the noblest of intentions, have always failed, in spite of the few heartening but minor victories that may have been won on the way to ultimate defeat. This general failure is inevitable, as treating the superficial symptoms of a fatal disease will always be, whatever temporary relief such treatment may bring to the sufferer.

It is time for all those who have struggled in frustration to change "the system" -- and that includes the brave minority of public school teachers who have chosen to stand quixotically against the progressive avalanche -- to band together with other advocates of freedom and virtue in taking a bolder step: acknowledge that the system itself is rigged to fail, or, at its worst, to "succeed" on evil terms. Acknowledge that, implausible as it may sound to most people at this early stage, if you really want to raise a generation of rational, decent adults prepared to shrug off the chains that today's majority has accepted in exchange for its "fair share" of the state's ill-gotten booty, you must emancipate the next generation of young adults from progressivism's universal indoctrination program.

[wintertime]

.wouldn’t that be a clear case of forced servitude to the government and wouldn’t that be called Socialism?
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BINGO!

Socialism is slavery with soft handcuffs.

Government schools are the very definition of a single-payer, godless, compulsory-use, compulsory-funded, SOCIALIST ENTITLEMENT!

And...It is amazing that when the words “slave” and “slavery” are substituted for “school” , “child”, and “student”, the defense of government schooling immediately becomes the defense used for SLAVERY in the 19th century!

Do an experiment. Try on the next post that defends government schooling.

[BlackElk]

yldstrk:

Whatever gummint edjamakashun may be, it is NOT "free." It devours about 60% of many local real property tax bills, produces pathetic results, has no accountability to parents or taxpayers, is ruled with an iron fist by two of the most despicably leftist unions in the nation (the NEA and the AFT), and has as its primary goal and purpose the ideological formation and corruption of those children unfortunate enough to be their inmates. As you point out, most colleges are no better.

[x]

All societies are imperfect. The idea that there is some kind of "healthy" society that we can achieve if we follow some blueprint isn't so very different from left-wing utopianism, and the idea that things that you don't like are "cancers" that have to be cut out is positively totalitarian.

It's possible that some new way will replace existing public schools, but there would simply be other things to complain about. It won't lead to some bright new rational world.

[wintertime]

When the words, "Slave" and "Slavery" are used in place of "school" and "student", it is AMAZING. Immediately we see the same arguments used to defend slavery in the 19th century. Let's try this on your post:

All societies are imperfect. Some have slavery. The idea that there is some kind of "healthy" society that we can achieve if we follow some blueprint( Such as freeing the slaves. isn't so very different from left-wing utopianism, and a slave free nation is utopian, of course and the idea that things the slavery t that you don't like are "cancers" that have to be cut out is positively totalitarian. It's totalitarian to take property away from the slave holders and expect men to be free.

It's possible that some new way will replace existing public schoolsslavery , but there would simply be other things more important than slavery to complain about. It won't lead to some bright new rational world free of slaves .

There are institutions that are soooo evil that they must be abolished, even if those enslaved in those institutions are worse off materially when finally emancipated.

[wintertime]

Please read my post #64.

[x]

Try it with alcohol. I mean, use "alcohol" or "liquor" in place of "school" and "student." Then just ban alcohol (or drugs or illicit sex or sin in general). That's sure to work. Try it and see what happens.

Or look back at Charles Dickens's England. There were reasons why public schooling was adopted and made compulsory. Maybe conditions have changed enought to make a change in education law and policy possible, but it's not going to be the fanatics who make the change.

[wintertime]

Often the argument used by those defending prison-like government indoctrination is what would happen to the poor creatures if the kiddie prisons were closed and they were set free. Emancipation! Imagine that!

I refuse to have that argument.

Government schooling is a First Amendment and freedom of conscience socialist abomination! It is toxic to the souls of the individual children and to our continuation as a free nation! It

Government schooling must be abolished even if the kiddie prisoners ( slaves) are worse off after their emancipation. The human spirit demands it.

[wintertime]

Let's do this again.

There were reasons why public schooling ( SLAVERY) was adopted and made compulsory. Maybe conditions have changed enought to make a change in education law and policy ( FREEING THE SLAVES) possible, but it's not going to be the fanatics ( THOSE RABID ABOLISTIONISTS who make the change ( FREE THE SLAVES) .

[BfloGuy]

The top producers from our schools right now are not from home schools but are Asians who attend our public schools.

The Asian families are able to overcome the destructive effects of modern American education but won't be able to hold on for long. It's too corrosive and designed specifically to minimize the role of the family. I agree that the article is a polemic -- but it isn't wrong.

[Trailerpark Badass]

"Freedom" is perfect. God made it and gave it to us.

Now, we may misuse it, but that does not diminish its perfection.

And that we may misuse it does not let the crazy control freaks and God-complex power lusters rationalize it into disrepute.

[Dr. Sivana]

To the degree that some positive results may have emerged at some point in the past from government run mandatory school attendance, that was in part due to the fact that the local parents, teachers, administrators and the general local population had common goals for the students. That is no longer the case. Under the current adversarial relationship among all parties listed above, accidental progress will become more and more rare.

[yldstrk]

well that is a good point

[Hop A Long Cassidy]

>>>but are Asians who attend our public schools.
>>>These kids are being after schooled.

Here’s my experience with professional Asians who immigrated to the U.S. and have children born in the states:

All (over 90%) Asians are home schooled in math from 1st to 8th grade by their fathers.

Most Asians attend public schools.

Many, maybe 1/10, Asians attend high priced private schools (money is not an object when it comes to their children’s education).

Perhaps 1/3 Asians attend after-school tutoring in academic subjects (Algebra II, Pre-Cal, Calculus AB/BC, Physics, Biology) as well as sports (usually tennis).

1/3 Asians take Advanced Placement (AP) classes in order to gain advantages in GPA, which determine class rank, a large factor in getting into good colleges.

I’ve read that 70 % of Asians vote Democrat. I believe it. All immigrant groups favor the Democrats who want more Democrat voters.

Most Asian moms spend 1/2 of their free time as a taxi-cab driver, taking their children to tutoring after school or on the weekend.

Most Asians have a gambling addiction.

Many Asian fathers own guns and love to go to the range to practice.

Most Asian high school students accept the left wing liberalism and multi-culturism taught in the public schools. The students who attend the private schools are more rational.

Most Asian high school students memorize historical facts but can’t understand Western culture, but they like and accept what little they do know.

All Asian males in high school want to be like Jeremy Lin.

The probability that an Asian mom voted for Obama is probably above 80 percent.

[wintertime]

To the degree that some positive results ....
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The results of government schooling are as irrelevant to its immoral treatment of its captives ( misnamed: “students”) as good or bad results were to those trapped in slavery. Regardless of whether emancipation yields materially measurable positive or negative results does not erase the assault both institutions are to freedom of conscience and to basic God-given First Amendment human rights.

Please remember that some slaves were worse off materially after emancipation but that some were more comfortable in slavery, and that no perfect plan for emancipation existed, did NOT justify keeping men in chains.

In the same way, some students ( whose only crime was to be born) may have benefited, and may now benefit, from compulsory attendance ( AKA: imprisonment) in the government assigned indoctrination center ( misnamed: “school” ) Whether the inmates of a government school benefit or not does not erase the crushing abomination government compulsory indoctrination is to freedom of conscience and First Amendment Rights of the students and parents, and to the taxpayer who is under the police threat to fund it.

Fundamentally, it is impossible for any school to be religiously, politically, or culturally neutral. When government owns and runs compulsory imprisonment schools and forces the taxpayer to fund it, the most powerful voting faction will impose its NON-neutral worldview on the less powerful.

Fundamentally...Government schools are a First Amendment and freedom of conscience monster. Just as in slavery, it must be abolished regardless of “results”. Respect for the human spirit yearning for freedom demands it.

[Hop A Long Cassidy]

>>>BTW, Andrew Carnegie was a big proponent of public edu.

He was like Warren Buffet, a man who became ultra-liberal as he approached the end of his life. Try reading his writings on peace. Carnegie, a benefactor to libraries and other causes, was much like Woodrow Wilson, the man who pushed the income tax and the League of Nations. Both men had a romantic view of man’s propensity to war.

[oldenuff2no]

And you don't attribute any of that to the “public school” part, do you?

because that would be stupid.

Wow you left that one wide open. Where to begin??
These Asian parents are busy working to improve their situation in life. They are not usually college educated and do not know the information to pass on to their children so yes the do in fact get the material they are expected to know from the schools. This is first hand information for me. I know many of the Asian parents of my son's classmates and then make no bones about the fact that their kids go to school to learn and will not treat it as a big social event.
The main difference is cultural. These parents fully expect their children to learn the information presented to them in school. Their children are made to study every day not just doing homework but reviewing all information given to them in their classes. Their children usually do not play sports, or sit and play video games, they study after school every day.
What we are talking about here is not a difference in teachers or schools, but a difference in parenting skills.
It is always easier to blame the teachers or the schools when your child fails to learn. The truth is usually that the parents don't follow up on anything, do not make their children study, do homework, or respect the teachers. In the end parents will never accept that they didn't do their part in the process of their child's education. Truth be knows they have no idea what homework their kid has or what that child is supposed to be learning. They think that is someone else’s problem.
Do you see the difference yet???

[oldenuff2no]

>>>but are Asians who attend our public schools. >>>These kids are being after schooled. Not around here. The parents work in their own business and work their butts off. Their kids come home from school and study each and every day if they don't they are also working with their parents. These kids do not play sports or sit on their butts playing video games.

We know many of these families. My sons class has several Asian students and they are all on the top end of their class. This is a culture difference, this is a difference in parenting philosophies. The fantasy of many parents is that it is the total responsibility of the teachers and the school that their children learn and succeed in school. That is not true. When parents do not do their part it does not matter what the teachers are doing. The kids know they can get away with not learning and their parents will just blame the teachers. How do your parenting skills and your knowledge of what your child is supposed to be learning in school stand up to that of the Asian parents??? Again, there is a difference here but it is not in the teachers or the school. The Asian students have the same information presented to them as the rest of the class.

[wintertime]

Without controlled studies it is impossible to know if schools are actually the source of knowledge. What exactly is learned in the classroom from that acquired outside the school due to the efforts of the parents, the child himself doing home study, private and paid tutoring, and STUDY CLUBS.

These studies have NEVER been done.

I too have known Asian families on a professional basis. Their kids came into the office with reading games on their child-sized computers. Older children and cousins sat in the waiting room reading to the younger children and ( gasp!) supervising HOMEwork, The older children told me about their AFTERSCHOOL study clubs. Some high schoolers were doing research projects with professors at the university.

So?....You observations are just as anecdotal as mine. Without studies it is impossible to know if schools teach anything at all, or are merely sending home a very expensive curriculum to be ( homeschooled) IN THE HOME.

I doubt any “educator” will be doing such studies. Imagine that! Up to $30,000/year/child on a government educational prison-like experience and no one knows if it is effective or not.