Education in America is a virtual monopoly of the government. As such, it is a highly politicized topic and controversy surrounds nearly every discussion about education. From funding to curriculum, from test scores to text books, there is little agreement between politicians, educators, taxpayers, and parents about how the nation’s schools should be operated and the results that should be expected.
While home schooling and private schools have grown in popularity in recent decades, government schools remain the dominant source of education for most American children. Indeed, approximately 87 percent of America’s schoolchildren attend government schools, primarily because these schools are “free.” Of course, these schools are not free. The costs for government schools are borne by taxpayers, which includes parents and non-parents alike.
Parents who do not approve of the curriculum or quality of government schools often have few alternatives. Because they are forced to financially support government schools, most parents cannot afford the expenses associated with private schools or home schooling. However, according to a recent survey, only 36 percent of those polled would continue to send their children to public schools if they had a viable choice. In other words, while the vast majority of parents send their children to government schools, those schools are not their preference. But they don’t have a viable choice.
Politicians and educational bureaucrats regularly concoct new schemes to improve government schools. But these programs and policies invariably throw more taxpayer money at schools and fail to address the fundamental problem—the violation of property rights in the education system.
Consider the uproar that would occur if the provision of food operated the same way as education. Taxpayers would be forced to pay the government, and then each family would be assigned a restaurant at which they could dine. If the family did not like the cuisine or the quality offered or they found the waiters to be surly, they would have to attend hearings, lobby restaurant bureaucrats, and hope that cuisine, quality, or service might eventually improve. If they wanted to eat at a better restaurant or “home cook,” they would still have to pay their restaurant tax, as well as pay for the cost of the meal at the better restaurant or the groceries they needed. They would have to pay twice for their meals. This might sound preposterous, but this is how America’s educational system operates.
Most Americans have a multitude of choices regarding what to eat and how to obtain food. They can choose based on their desires, needs, and budget. If they don’t like what one restaurant or grocery store offers, they can take their business to another establishment. For most American parents, such choices do not exist in regard to their children’s education because they cannot afford to pay twice.
But if taxpayers and educational entrepreneurs were freed from the clutches of the government educational monopoly, parents would have choices. Innovators would be free to offer the types of education and curriculums that they believe parents and students want. Parents and students would be free to select the schools that offered what they wanted. And taxpayers wouldn’t be forced to continually throw money into the black hole that is government schools.
In the context of the present discussion, political controversy over education would cease. The greater the government’s involvement, the greater the political controversy. In regard to education, conservatives and “progressives” alike detest many of the ideas taught in government schools. And so, they battle to influence and control school boards, the content of textbooks, and the curriculum.
Such controversies don’t arise when individuals are free to create, use, trade, and dispose of values. We don’t witness political controversies over restaurants or grocery stores because, compared to the educational system, restaurants and grocery stores are bastions of freedom. In the realm of restaurants and grocery stores, property rights are much more respected and protected than in education. Restaurateurs and grocers are free to create and trade the values that they believe diners want. And all of us are free to patronize those establishments that offer the food and service that they want.
The same could happen with America’s educational system if property rights were recognized and respected.