Re: Reforming Education

Chuck Kuecker (ckuecker@mcs.net)
Thu, 07 Oct 1999 13:31:03 -0500

At 08:43 AM 10/7/1999 -0700, Lee Daniel Crocker wrote:

This is one reason
>>> we have mandatory schooling.
>
>Very sloppy thinking. Subsidized education and mandatory education have
>nothing to do with each other. The first is an economic issue: should we
>use tax dollars to educate children? The latter is a human rights issue:
>should we enslave children to state-run indoctrination centers and jail
>parents who dissent? I have some sympathy for those who favor the
>former; it raises my libertarian hackles a bit and I think education can
>be more than adequately handled by private means, but it's arguable.
>But mandatory education should be morally repugnant to any civilized
>human. The fact that it is not is very distressing.
>

Never said I agreed with state mandated schools, just pointed up one reason they exist. Back around the turn of the century, do-gooders convinced governments to mandate schooling for all in a certain age group...

What I was trying to say is: do we have a way of supporting education for the children of people who cannot afford private tuition, and what is the best way to do so.

If we get rid of state mandated schools, we need a safety net to catch those who can't get into private schools for whatever reason, or we risk losing many bright young people while we sort out the wreckage..

Chuck Kuecker