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Townhall
Escaping
'Government'
Schools
John Stossel
Oct 02, 2013
People say public schools
are "one of the best parts of America". I believed that.
Then I started reporting on them.
Now I know that public
school -- government school is a better name -- is one of the worst
parts of America. It's a stultified government monopoly. It never
improves.
Most services improve. They
get faster, better, cheaper. But not government monopolies.
Government schools are rigid, boring, expensive and more segregated
than private schools.
I call them "government"
instead of "public" schools because not much is "public"
about them. Members of the public don't get to pick their kids'
schools, teachers, curriculum or cost.
By contrast, supermarkets
are "private" yet open to everyone. You can stroll in 24
hours a day. Just try that with your kid's public school. You might
be arrested.
Now a school choice
movement has given government schools a sliver of competition.
Private schools, charter schools, vouchers, education tax credits and
the Web offer competition. Not all the alternatives work, but with
competition, bad alternatives die and good ones grow.
This will help all kids.
But so far, the
alternatives reach only a small number of kids. Unions and
bureaucrats don't want competition, and they use their political
clout to stifle it. But gradually, they're losing.
After fighting
homeschooling for years, they've stopped trying to ban it, and today
homeschoolers fare better on tests and college admission. So, some in
the government monopoly claim that if your kids are homeschooled,
they will not be properly socialized (in the sense of interacting
with peers, that is, not in the sense of belonging to government).
But homeschooled kids
participate in all sorts of social events with other homeschooling
families -- plus theater, ballet, karate and other classes that most
kids get and that some only wish they did.
Homeschoolers do just fine.
Somehow, without government control, they prosper.
Defenders of government
schools often claim their schools are what create the American
"melting pot." Different races, ethnic groups and income
levels mix together in government-funded schools.
Bunk. If it was ever true,
it isn't now.
For the rest of this
article and more, go to Townhall
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