Separating
School & State: How to Liberate America's Families
by Sheldon Richman
In Separating School and State, Sheldon
Richman effectively and comprehensively analyzes the failures of public
schooling in America and explains the ideas and ideology behind the case
for compulsory education. But beyond a historical interpretation and a
critical evaluation of the state of public education in America today,
Mr. Richman offers a vision of what a fully privatized educational system
might look like - and in what ways it would solve many, if not most, of
the problems that parents, students, and even a sizable number of professional
educators see as the fundamental shortcomings of the present system. It
is not an exaggeration to say that Mr. Richman's book may very well move
the entire debate over education in America to a higher and more fruitful
level of discussion.
"Mr. Richman's premise will be
a troubling one for many, that state schooling doesn't work because it
can't work. He is certainly right. Separating School and State makes
it clear that even with the best of intentions, force and compulsion set
processes in motion which mutilate family life, replace education with
indoctrination, and bring the myth of Procrustes to life. The solutions
proposed make such good sense, the 'official' reform crowd should hang
its head in shame." - John Taylor Gatto, New York State Teacher of
the Year, 1991, author, Dumbing Us Down
"If we needed more proof that government
schools are in shambles and that privatization and parental choice are
the solutions, this book makes a powerful contribution. It offers both
insight and compassionate solutions." - Professor Walter E. Williams,
John M. Olin Distinguished Professor of Economics, George Mason University
When the Berlin Wall collapsed and the Soviet
empire disintegrated, Americans took great pride in their heritage of individual
liberty and free markets. "Capitalism is superior to socialism," Americans
told the world. "Free enterprise is the economic system the world should
adopt."
Yet, despite their apparent devotion to freedom,
Americans refuse to let go of their model of socialist, central planning:
public schooling, an institution that is found in Russia, China, Cuba,
the United States, and all other countries of the world.
How does public schooling work? It is run
by a political commission, either at the local, state, or national level,
by which politicians or bureaucrats plan the educational decisions of thousands,
sometimes millions, of children. How is it funded? The state uses its coercive
power of taxation to take money from some, even those who do not have children,
to fund the schooling of others - a perfect embodiment of the Marxian principle,
"From each according to ability, to each according to need." What do the
students learn? They learn official, approved doctrine from government
- approved school teachers who use government-approved textbooks. How do
public schools get their customers? Through compulsory attendance laws
by which adults are commanded to deliver their children at the age of six
to these government-approved institutions.
What would education look like under a free
market? As with religion, families would decide the best educational vehicles
for each of their children. And entrepreneurs in the educational marketplace
would provide those vehicles. This is not what exists in the USA now. What
exists is more and more taking the form of socialized education with very
exact governmental plans regarding curricula and goals. This would be fine,
except the goals are not academic, but have more to do with attitudes,
beliefs and behaviors - this is because behavioral psychologists have taken
over the field of "education".
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