Earlier this week I advocated for education vouchers in a brief post but today I would actually like to raise a more fundamental question: why should we have public schools at all? Furthermore, is education even a public good?
I assume that the immediate reaction of most people to such a question is to dismiss it out of hand. "Of course we need public schools! What kind of society would refuse to educate its children?" would perhaps be a common response.
But if we really want to engage in bold thinking, if we truly are willing to embrace change, then we shouldn't be afraid to conduct an examination of such matters. At the very least it can do no harm, for there is nothing wrong with reconfirming our deepest held beliefs.
Let's first begin by pondering whether public schools should exist. After all, what reason is there to think that the government can do a better job educating children than any other type of agency? Does government possess a special gift or wisdom regarding education? Do we typically see this? Do public schools have a better reputation than private ones? Are private universities typically held in lower esteem than publicly-funded ones?
Please note that abolishing government-run schools and ending public education are not the same thing. We could maintain public education while shutting down schools simply by awarding a set amount of money to each child to put towards their primary and secondary school education. The child would still be educated at taxpayer expense, just not directly by the government.
It seems to me that the list of activities that the government can better conduct than the private sector is a rather short one, and I am not sure education falls on it. If government does an inferior job, then we are doing a serious disservice to the children now enrolled in such a system.
The second question is whether education is a public good in the first place. When a child is born it is considered the parent's responsibility to feed, clothe and house the child among other obligations. Why is it not also the parent's obligation to educate the child? Why is it the responsibility of society at large?
I don't pretend to have definitive answers, but I would argue that we can almost assuredly say that the abolishment of public education would not result in millions of uneducated children. After all, there is no public source of clothing and yet we do not typically see children roaming the streets naked. Public sources of housing and food are much less extensive than the education system yet childhood starvation and homelessness are hardly widespread. That is not to say that naked, starved and homeless children do not exist. I am sure they do. But even with (because of?) public education we certainly have significant numbers of poorly or uneducated children and young adults. Government involvement is clearly no panacea.
It seems to me that there is great temptation to respond to such questions with an emotional answer. I would strongly urge the reader, however, to carefully think these matters through and truly ponder them. Just because we have always done something a certain way does not mean it is the best or ideal way to accomplish something.
If we truly value children's education then in the quest for improvement we should leave no stone unturned and no assumption unchallenged.
Update: Another reason to take schooling out of the public domain. Remember, politics divides people and the fewer issues (e.g. gay marriage) that are left to government to decide the better. A libertarian society isn't just more efficient, it is also less contentious.
I assume that the immediate reaction of most people to such a question is to dismiss it out of hand. "Of course we need public schools! What kind of society would refuse to educate its children?" would perhaps be a common response.
But if we really want to engage in bold thinking, if we truly are willing to embrace change, then we shouldn't be afraid to conduct an examination of such matters. At the very least it can do no harm, for there is nothing wrong with reconfirming our deepest held beliefs.
Let's first begin by pondering whether public schools should exist. After all, what reason is there to think that the government can do a better job educating children than any other type of agency? Does government possess a special gift or wisdom regarding education? Do we typically see this? Do public schools have a better reputation than private ones? Are private universities typically held in lower esteem than publicly-funded ones?
Please note that abolishing government-run schools and ending public education are not the same thing. We could maintain public education while shutting down schools simply by awarding a set amount of money to each child to put towards their primary and secondary school education. The child would still be educated at taxpayer expense, just not directly by the government.
It seems to me that the list of activities that the government can better conduct than the private sector is a rather short one, and I am not sure education falls on it. If government does an inferior job, then we are doing a serious disservice to the children now enrolled in such a system.
The second question is whether education is a public good in the first place. When a child is born it is considered the parent's responsibility to feed, clothe and house the child among other obligations. Why is it not also the parent's obligation to educate the child? Why is it the responsibility of society at large?
I don't pretend to have definitive answers, but I would argue that we can almost assuredly say that the abolishment of public education would not result in millions of uneducated children. After all, there is no public source of clothing and yet we do not typically see children roaming the streets naked. Public sources of housing and food are much less extensive than the education system yet childhood starvation and homelessness are hardly widespread. That is not to say that naked, starved and homeless children do not exist. I am sure they do. But even with (because of?) public education we certainly have significant numbers of poorly or uneducated children and young adults. Government involvement is clearly no panacea.
It seems to me that there is great temptation to respond to such questions with an emotional answer. I would strongly urge the reader, however, to carefully think these matters through and truly ponder them. Just because we have always done something a certain way does not mean it is the best or ideal way to accomplish something.
If we truly value children's education then in the quest for improvement we should leave no stone unturned and no assumption unchallenged.
Update: Another reason to take schooling out of the public domain. Remember, politics divides people and the fewer issues (e.g. gay marriage) that are left to government to decide the better. A libertarian society isn't just more efficient, it is also less contentious.
2 comments:
Now you have given me more reason to be scared. Central planning did such a good job for the USSR, so now we are going to try it. Whatever happened to the USSR anyway?
As a new parent I have given this topic a lot of thought. We're Christians, and believe it is our responsibility to educate our children, so we'll be home-schooling. Both of us were public schooled, but we see many benefits to educating our kids at home. We'll be able to tailor curriculums to what our children need and what we believe is important to learn. As I understand it, Math education in public schools is a joke, so we'll be able to pick a rigorous curriculum (Singapore Math perhaps) to ensure our kids aren't crippled in that area. We'll be teaching Latin very early on, along with another language (probably French or German). We'll have plenty of time to teach violin and piano as well, since homeschooling only requires a few hours a day (we're both classically trained musicians) . Since my husband works unconventional hours we can have a "weekend" day anytime he does, whether it's Saturday or Wednesday. I don't think we will need to worry about the socialization that people go on about since we will have traditional after-school activities, church, and friends to play with. In short, we want our kids to be well-educated independent thinkers, and we believe that teaching them at home is the best way to get them ready for the world.
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