Excellent article. I love it, and have enjoyed reading the comments here.

I was homeschooled (until college), and have strong convictions that the Government does not have the responsibility to educate us, and ought to stay out of it (though it may encourage it).

I'm a big fan of Hillsdale college, for their convictions about remaining entirely private (and the extraordinary efforts they go through to accomplish this), and its appreciation of the Constitution.

I advocate school vouchers. The article makes a good point, and I agree that vouchers ought not be our end goal. Anything "granted" by the Government comes with the control of the Government. The final solution would be for Government to recognize its proper role and limits (i.e., to protect us against those who would violate our natural rights), and get out of the business of public schools.

But most of my friends would object that just quitting cold-turkey would be disastrous. So I see vouchers (or tax credits) as a good step in the right direction. It would help toward allowing the market to operate and allow competition, and build the infrastructure that will eventually enable us to break away from the chains of Statist education. I know this is highly optimistic, maybe wishful thinking, but I think it is a good path to pursue.

(Edit: finishing a thought).

I basically agree with the 'no use' of vouchers because the government will control what is taught anyway. The only good thing about voucher is that at least some of the kids might actually receive an education, which they are not getting now.

That's one sensible way to think about it, but not the way the term is used, generally - unfortunately Craig!

That's great to hear about more truly independent colleges still left in the U.S.!

yes, life is not fair, but We are here to try to make up for it.
with this forum, the movies, and maybe the TV series,
perhaps there will be an increased chance that more
kids will get a Real Chance!!! -- j

wonderful article, K;;; Thanks! . this is the kind of
thinking which we need for our kids -- each is a
unique person and each should get a chance to
find the productive life they love!!! -- j

Before we can dismantle the DOE, we need a public that is taught outside the boundaries it draws. Plenty of people are homeschooling their kids now; let's encourage that.

There's plenty of good material up on the Web already, and more will certainly follow. I really believe the task of homeschooling will only get easier and cheaper.

Correct. Affirmative action should apply only to soliciting applications, not hiring quotas. If an individual has been discriminated against by govt, only that individual should have recourse.

It has been a long, incremental process of statism in education beginning long before the early 20th century. Public schools run by local towns date back to the earliest days of the settlers, the time of the Revolution, and later in the 18th century. State laws mandating public education were implemented in the mid 1800s as a result of an intellectually driven campaign by New England advocates of the German system, English socialists, and Unitarians afraid of influence by Catholic immigrants -- Horace Mann was part of the later stages of that.

When my granddaughter was in primary school, she asked in her cute little smart-ass way, "If Montessori schools are so good, why don't all kids get to go to them?" I told her about the double cost. She replied "That's not fair!" Welcome to real life, kiddo.

However, the state of Washington recently proposed concentrating their hiring efforts on local Indian reservations. To me...that IS discriminating based on race, unless I'm mistaken.

Hello j_IR1776wg,
Indeed! Always on point. :)
Regards,
O.A.

Yes but the Marxist/Deweyites teach history selectively so our kids aren't being taught about that private system.
We in the Gulch have to make more noise on a larger stage.

... and as if you say, and I agree it is a possibility, that the government will follow the voucher with regulation then those parents will have the same choice... a poor government regulated education or a quality government free education. What I know is where we are now with a vast government education bureaucracy from the Federal Education Department down to the local school employees is not good for the vast majority of parents and children. Vouchers/tax credits get us further from that model and then it is a smaller jump to a totally non subsidized model.

Actually there are many privately-funded colleges out there, perhaps too small to be recognized. Last year I attended a reunion of Vietnam Veterans (1st Battalion 83rd Artillery) in Branson, Missouri. We had a young lady guest speaker from College of the Ozarks. I cried listening to her wonderful presence and her presentation. She told how each student was required to hook up with a Vietnam Veteran and accompany him back to his battlefield in Vietnam, and what effect that had on character building and other attributes for the students. My shirt was wet with my dripping tears from her presentation, perhaps because emotions were already particularly high after we had just done the reading of the names of our fallen brothers.

Also known as “HardWork U” the "College of the Ozarks" is based on Cultural, Patriotic, and Christian values. No tuition is charged, all students work on campus, debt is openly discouraged, and no federal, state, or private loans are made. I’m sure there are more schools like this hidden out there somewhere. If not, why not? I think it might behoove us to find one for our grandchildren. If interested see: https://www.cofo.edu/

'Affirmative action' does not require "discriminating based on race". It merely requires reaching out to solicit applications from a broad source of applicants, instead of recruiting only from a select group.

It's hard to compete with free! But, then, you do that already.

Of course the availability of vouchers would generate a lot of schools that were more free, and better, than the public schools but still somewhat under the thumb of the state.

Whether you would be able to maintain independence as Hillsdale does, or would have to accept vouchers and battle the state regulations is a valid issue. On the other hand you would have more allies in all the other private schools that would spring into being with a city full of people who can now afford them.

Herb, it is so hard for parents to pay double tuition - which many do by paying property taxes and then paying private school tuition.

Thanks for sharing your experience - interesting about MIT. Yes, fortunately, many people continue learning and learn a lot on their own after school.

Of course we'd be free not to accept them. The point is: would we then have a "market" because parents mostly will want to use them rather than spend their own money.

Chicago's similar - our property taxes go almost entirely to the disgusting prisons they call schools here. They're so bad 250,000 children go to Catholic schools - can you imagine if the city had to pay for them too?

The school budgets are basically welfare for the staff. Bloated administration, support staff, and ridiculous pensions.

I applaud you and your school. However, there are not as many schools of your type available at a reasonable price. Unfortunately, my kids got a crappy public school education, because I was too dumb to pay for a private school. Fortunately my son was smarter than me and sent my Grandchildren to an excellent Montessori school which gave them a real head start.

They're rightly worried a hundred other strings besides AA would come with the money.

I think about that school my kids went to for 13 days. The administration believed in "alternative" medicine and didn't require/support vaccination. I disagree with them strongly, but I'm glad they're down the road living their hippie lifestyle in peace. I would hate for voucher program to come along and require them to follow rules so parents can get their tax dollars back and spend them on the school.

I have no problem with tax credits (pre refundable) being used instead of a voucher. The more power the parents have the better. Do not think the government education industrial complex will view tax credits as any less of a threat than vouchers however.