Clarify My position on PUblic schools

Phylisophycal: Public schools were founded with the intent, not of educating the people (we had a 98% literacy rate at the time), but to indoctrinate the people into the "modern, advanced, socialist" mindset. The entire system is designed to remoe power from the parents and give it to "experts." It is designed to make good, obedient little robots out of us all.

Since atheism is a religion, it is a clear violation of the Constitution for government to be involved in any aspect of education (you can't teach with God in the curriculum without teaching religion and you can't teach with God out of the curriculum without teaching the religion of atheism. The government can't legally teach...period.)

Government forced schooling violates someones basic rights. I am threatened by the liberal who wants their idea taught in the schools because that indoctrinates my children into thier belief system. I am a threat to the liberal because my ideas violate their rights to have their children taught their belief.

It is stealing to threaten to send men with big guns into your house to force you to pay for my child's education. Don't think this is happening? Try not paying your taxes sometime.

Now, the path we, as a whole people, should follow (this is when we are discussing politics): Outlawing public school today would create so much chaos that the backlash would leave us with a worse system than we have now. This is simply not a wise course for us to take at this time.

The wiser path would be to begin seperating the funding of education from the control of education. Much like Food Stamps gives money to people to buy food with but doesn't tell them whether to buy fruit or bread, and the AFDC program gives money to families but doesn't tell them whether to spend it on rent or utilities, the government should issue it's Educational Charity money to the parents themselves and let them choose the best school for their children. Atheists will pick atheist schools, Christians will pick Christian schools, Jews will pick Jewish schools and no parent will be threatened by the choices of other parents. Children who need more recess time and less artsey classes can go to schools that offer more recess time. Children who need music lessons or intense History studies can go to those schools. The parent knows better than anyone else what their particular child needs. Schools that do a poor job educating will shut down.

Parents who want to send their children to "public schools" would have to present their voucher at the door making even "public school" simi-private schools and definitly subject to the laws of supply and demand. If they do a poor job, they face closing their doors.

We could begin offering these vouchers to those families below the poerty line and every year raise them to a certain percent above (5% this year, 7% next year, 9% the year after that) until all childrne receive vouchers. Since the average private school is only $3000 a year (with some as low as $1200) even a voucher worth 50% of the federal money would go a long way to getting poorer families into better options. The gradual increase in money available for private schools would fuel the building of more private schools. Eventually, when everyone is getting a voucher, the "public schools" could be totally converted into private schools and all government regulations removed.

The next step would be a gradual reduction of vouchers. This would all take several decades, but would be worth the eventual results: total academic and thus religious freedom.






Now if I am talking to individual parents I will tell them to get their children out NOW! In the richest, freest country in the world there is no reason the vast majority of parents can't find some way to privatly educate their children. Yes, it will mean sacrafice. You might have to live in a smaller house or drive an old car, but it IS possible. I have known mom's on welfare and disability that found a way to afford homeschool curriculum. I've known of others that found ways to afford private school even when they were living well below the poverty level. For goodness sake, parents in Africa living on flats in the city sewer/swamp find the money for private school! It is possible if you really think it is important enough.

Let's do some imagining: Since I know I have a number of public school employees that read my blog, let's imagine you get a job paying exactly what you earn now. Now imagine that all Public funded education were outlawed. Public schools simply don't exisit anymore.

What happens to your children? Do they roam the streets or would you find some way to continue to educate them.

The fact is you would find some way to get them some kind of education. It might be private school. Or it might be a hired tutor, virtual school, homeschool, or some option that hasn't been invented yet because it isn't needed yet. Whatever way you went, you would do SOMETHING, right? You wouldn't just leave your kids to fend for themselves.

Now I ask you, If you could find a way in case of such unrealistic emergancy, why can't you find a way now? The answer is because you just don't think it is as important as whatever you are spending the money on now.

So how bad do the schools have to get before you do think it is important to get your kids out? Do they need to openly teach homosexuality? Sexual exploration? Gender nutrality? Situational Ethics? God is a liar? ALL of our public school text books teach these things now.

Is there anything the schools could do that would make you make the sacrafices necessary to get your kids out?

So what would it take?