Approximately 50-million students,
bound by state compulsory attendance laws, are trapped in what is essentially a
prison of their bodies and minds.
Most Americans never question
school compulsory attendance laws itself but instead focus on what occurs
inside the classroom. Public schools, which can also be called government
schools, are notorious for a wide array of problems. From class size to the controversy
over testing to disruptive student behavior, the demand that more taxpayer
money be used to correct the poor performance is touted as the answer. This completely disregards
two points: 1. The benefit-cost ratio of government education of children
is often a losing deal. (Private schools are frequently smaller, religious
affiliated, and in many cases cost less to educate each student than the public
counterparts.) 2. More important, compulsory education violates the liberty of
all citizens – taxpayers and students alike, not only by forcing parents to
subject their children to a state education but also with the coercive funding
(i.e., taxation) used to force children’s attendance.
My principal objection to compulsory education is that it violates the
freedom of the individual. No one should be required to give up personal
sovereignty to comply with a state or federal government mandate — not through
military conscription and not through compulsory education.
From its earliest days, our nation functioned well without
compulsory education laws, and the
minimal involvement of government enabled youth to choose trade/vocational
training, religious study, or higher education relevant to the individual’s
personal choice. As the idea of compulsory attendance began to develop in
society, it became increasingly repressive, decade by decade. Parochial schools
and family home-schooling were replaced by laws forcing attendance for most
students at government schools.
Government-run schools and compulsory attendance to any school are the
antitheses of freedom, liberty, and learning. Forced to attend a school, most
will go to government schools. Students are treated as prisoners sentenced to
serve 12 years (or less in some states). Years of children’s precious lives and
vulnerable minds are spent in forced confinement, often subjected to aimless
busywork to meet the demands of teachers. The individual is not valued in many government
schools, as all focus is on becoming an upstanding member of the collective.
Leftist indoctrination has become ubiquitous. Independent thinking is
discouraged while group-think pervades nearly every aspect of the politicized
curriculum. All of this in the name of bettering children’s lives.
The oppression is accepted by the majority who learn quickly how to
gain approval from their masters, with students who rebel sadly turning to
personally and socially destructive behaviors. While many passively accept this
oppression, the individuals who would be better suited to pursue unique
aptitudes suffer.
With rare religious exceptions recognized, the vast majority of
American youth must obey by attending such schools or face various penalties
and punishments, as well as sometimes the possibility of fines and jail time
for parents. Gone are the days where educational choices were up to the young
person and his family.
The result of youth being exposed to years of socialist ideas explains
the rampant decline of basic knowledge and generation upon generation of
graduating seniors with minimal ability to do much of anything aside from
obeying orders. All too many high-school graduates display poor writing skills
and an inadequate ability to engage in critical thinking on simple matters.
The collective is placed above the individual. From rewards for just
showing up to ribbons for all, disallowing students to give one another a card
or a simple gift unless all are given one, to situational ethics role-playing
scenarios, students are continuously subjected to an agenda that discourages
independent thought. High achievement is discouraged as competition is rejected
while poor performers are made to feel equal to all. Critical thinking and
actual substantive course work are replaced by leftist revisionism of history,
identity politics, and advocacy of politically correct perceptions of life.
Free speech, a fundamental of our nation, is not only not valued, but
it is also suppressed. Subtle and patent discrimination of those not conforming
to the frequently liberal agenda pervades government education. After years of
this beginning when very young, the mental and emotional development is
stunted, and the socialist mindset is placed — exactly what an all-powerful
government wants — an easily controlled and manipulated unquestioning populous.
All of this occurs simply because the
American people have never questioned the premise of compulsory education.
While conservatives work to offer alternatives such as vouchers/home-schooling/economic
methods to provide choice, those who value liberty realize compulsory education
is not an area for mere reform, it is a clear violation of the rights of the
individual and as such should be eliminated.
The rights of millions of young Americans are violated daily by forcing
children to attend schools. Likewise, the rights of Americans who are forced to
fund state schools are violated.
Education should be a personal responsibility, not a public one. Like
so many other important aspects of life that the government now controls, the
education of children should be left entirely up to the parents and the private
sector with its charitable and private enterprises, with attendance voluntary.
A fundamental rejection of any government involvement in education,
including all laws requiring compulsory attendance, must be the focus. It is
not enough to try and end the government monopoly in education, the link
between government and any educational opportunity should be ended.
Just as compulsory attendance
began with one state mandating it and the idea spreading nationwide, our
country could begin to end this tyranny if one state legislature courageously
challenged and eliminated compulsory attendance.
America needs educational
freedom – freedom from all government intervention. Let’s begin it with an end
to compulsory attendance.
Category: Education
This post was written
by: Christine Smith
Christine Smith is a writer from Colorado. You may visit her website, www.ChristineSmith.us.
https://www.lewrockwell.com/2020/02/no_author/compulsory-education-the-bane-of-learning-and-freedom/