The temptation of “public schools”

Still weeks from the end of August, most American schoolchildren are now again confined to these government-run, tax-funded institutions for another school year.

This graphic was and is intended for christians, but it is just as true for lovers of liberty with children, regardless of their religion.

To put it very bluntly: If you believe that government is wrong, then the last thing you should be doing is sending your sons and daughters to schools that are run by governments. At any level, whether we are talking the centralized school system of the Republic of France (as demonstrated by Charles de Gaulle decades ago), or a truly Independent school district run by a Board of Education in some West Texas county. (Don’t believe the title: they are no more independent than county governments or municipal administrations: Austin and DC dictate more and more.

Time after time, this has been demonstrated in every nation on earth. While numerous studies over the past several decades have shown that many – perhaps even a majority of – children of followers of Christ who are confined to public schools for thirteen to seventeen years abandon the faith of their parents, and throttle the faith that they had themselves as young children.

Though no studies (that we at TPOL are aware of) have been done of how many children of libertarians (whether minarchists or anarchists) are “converted” to so-called conservativism or falsely-labeled progressivism, we suspect that frequently happens. Especially we can see that in those grade school and high school students who fall in love with the idea of caring for and educating children. And then rush off to teaching colleges and universities to really get indoctrinated – to go on to brainwash two or three more generations.

Libertarians – lovers of liberty – need to do more than just home-school or privately-educate their own children and grandchildren. They need to talk about the dangers of the government-run, tax-supported schools to their extended families, their friends, and their community. Otherwise, to be frank, who are their liberty-loving children going to marry? To go into business with? To get to vote to regain freedom in education.

Yes, we probably all know men and women who were raised to revere and obey the state who were converted to loving liberty as adults. Even as relatively young adults. But looking around for the last half-century, it is sad to say that those are rare. And getting rarer.

The answer is, of course, education: teaching people to love liberty, to exercise liberty, to (echoing H. Beam Piper) proclaim to all that “Freedom equals ‘I won’t’” and mean it. To reduce and eliminate cooperation and compromise with those who have D or R on their voter registration, behind their name on ballots, and (undoubtedly) engraved on their hearts and minds.

Again, this is just as true for lovers of liberty who are atheists, agnostics, deists, Muslims, Jews, or Hindi as it is for those who follow Christ. So we’ll end this with another quote: from Psalms: “Train up a child in the way he should go: and when he is old, he will not depart from it.” Proverbs 22:6

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