OK, the video is 44 minutes long, but it's interesting.
I don't believe in privatizing everything, especially at the state level. I have libertarian impulses, but they don't go near as far as this guy's. Still, if you've got 44 minutes to spare, it's fun to watch such videos and come up with legitimate counter-arguments (as opposed to bumper-sticker, sound-byte statements) to what he says. Mental gymnastics can be fun.
3 comments:
I haven't had a chance to view the video yet but I'm of the opinion that the good professor's hope will become fact and in the not too distant future either.
At some point the cash-cow nature of the school district will collide with an increasingly unsupportive public and something out of the common will result.
I know predicting the demise of the public education system will conjure up an internet psychiatrist or two to offer their diagnosis but the first splintering sounds that presage the catastrophic collapse are already being heard.
It strikes me as odd that the speaker wants to do away with public education, but then dole everyone out money from a common pot FOR an education at public expense. Semantics, really. The system would just become corrupt... differently. Why not just say that there is no Constitutional right to education, tough noogies if you're poor, go away, the end? I mean, have done with it already and save the tax money. I can hear that a lot better than "no child left behind," or "raising expectations," or "rigorous curriculum" for the 5,000th time. WHY PRETEND? Just say it's over and we can all go home.
Speaking of which, the comments about homeschooling are way off the mark. This guy obviously doesn't know many homeschoolers, or he'd know it is not JUST about how bad the public schools are. It's also something many families enter into because they want a certain religious and moral foundation for their children.
And finally... compulsory education? They think that's great and will "help" the poor? Eew. That comment in answer to a question sorta reeks of paternalism. These people DO NOT GET why we are opting out of the system. If they ran the show, things would be plenty twisted, but just in a whole new way.
I like libertarianism in theory until they start talking too long and say what's really on their minds.
I didn't watch the whole thing. I do agree that - at the very least -the DOE needs to be disbanded and the Federal government needs to get completely out of the schools. Ideally, all education would be privatized. Government has no business sticking its nose in education. It seems like a conflict of interest to me.
There would most definitely be provisions made for the poor - that's just the way we are as a people. The poor would not be told to go away.
It surprises me that Walter Block would say he supports public-funded education in any form, since I believe some of his material is on the Mises.org web site - which is a wonderful site, BTW.
Generally, with a few exceptions (like D.C.) I don't support public-funded voucher programs and such. However, if we took the money that we spend on education now and sent every single child to private school, we would most likely have money left over. Our local school system reports they spend around 8 or 9K per student per year. I think it's really more than that, but that's another topic altogether. In researching private schools in our area, I found they charge an average of 6K. No unions. No twaddle.
Of course, the ACLU would raise a big, huge stink about Christian schools, but I don't see a problem if the funding would be available to schools of other faiths - including no faith.
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