Education

Compulsory government psychotherapy is not education. As a former Public School Teacher in Tennessee, Daniel Lewis knows first hand what a disaster our schools have become. The tenth amendment to the Constitution for the United States says, “The Powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively or the people.” Nowhere in the Constitution is there any mention of Education, yet the Federal Government has created the monster of the Department of Education. This department only burdens our schools with regulations that hinder true learning. The Federal department of Education should be abolished.

From the founding of our great nation we have recognized the importance of keeping the government out of religion. It is time to recognize that the entire idea of a government monopoly of education is flawed. Groups such as the Alliance for the Separation of School & State recognize that the only way for our children to receive the quality of education they need is by separating schools from the control of any level of government.

From the mid-1600s to the mid-1800s, public schools as we know them today were virtually non-existent, and the free market met the educational needs of America. In these two centuries, America produced several generations of highly skilled and literate men and women who laid the foundation for a nation dedicated to the principles of freedom and self-government.

The voluntary system of education in which our forefathers were educated included home, school, church, voluntary associations such as library companies and philosophical societies, circulating libraries, apprenticeships, and individual study. It was a system supported primarily by those who used the services of education, and by gracious benefactors. All was done without compulsion. Although there was a veneer of government involvement in some colonies, such as in Puritan Massachusetts, early American education was essentially based on the principle of voluntarism. The U.S. Senate must encourage parents to seek out alternative ways of educating their children. We must develop a system that encourages parents to become responsible for what their children are learning and how they are learning it. The key to a successful education is parent support.

Research from all across America shows that our tax subsidized schools are failing. Individually owned and operated schools produce better results at about one-half the cost per student compared to government sector schools. The national average spent on each student in a school owned and operated by the government is $8,701. The average spent on each government sector school student in Tennessee $6,855.

Over 37 years, average per-pupil expenditures for schools owned and operated by the government have nearly doubled, rising from $3931 in 1971 - 1972 to $8701 in 2007-2008, in constant dollars. The largest contribution to the increased costs of government education has come from the growth in the administrative sector of government run schools. Between 1960 and 1984, the number of non-classroom personnel in America grew almost 600%, nearly ten times the growth rate of classroom teachers. The number of non-teaching, administrative employees, (46 percent of total) is now almost equal to the number of classroom teachers (54 percent of total) and continues to grow.

The most prestigious schools (McCallie and Baylor) in Chattanooga, Tennessee charge $17,895 and $17,623 in tuition for each day student. At Nashville’s prestigious Currey Ingram Academy the tuition is between $23,620-$27,634. These prices are actually high above the average cost of sending a child to a market sector school. On average individually operated school in America charge $4,689 a year for tuition, the average for Catholic Schools is $3,236. In America, parents may choose from well over 27,000 competing schools that charge less than $2,500 a year. Less than 21% of free market schools in America charge more than $5000. Market sector schools have a proven track record of producing better results than their government owned and operated counterparts. The average cost of a market sector school in America, $4,689 is 53% of the spending on each of its students ($8,701), in schools owned and operated by the government. According to Education Week, since 1999 the number of government schools to be returned to the free market had tripled.

In short, our government owned and operated schools have no obligation to produce success. As a matter of fact, the worst our government schools perform the more money they get. Salary differences prevent them from going to teach at the most effective schools. Your tax dollars are used to keep failing public schools in operation. Because of tax subsidize, which allow government controlled schools to pay teachers more, market sector schools are unable to compete for the best teachers. The good teachers that work in the failing government run schools cannot perform to their full potential because of bureaucratic red tape. The government education system restricts them from reaching their full potential. Government regulations restrict their teaching methods. Once all education is moved to the free market, competition for good teachers will dramatically increase the pay for all teachers. The bottom line is that an educational system operating in the free market will provide our children with the best education possible, and this is ultimately what we all want.

The first thing the U.S. Senate should do to improve our schools is to abolish the Federal Department of Education and encourage each state to do the same. All education from pre-K to the University level should be into the free market. The U.S. Senate can do this by offering parents tax incentives for sending their children to a non-government school. Parents should be given a tax credit equal to one-half the cost of government schooling in their county, if they home school their child or send their child to a non-government school. Education should be made totally competitive in the United States. Schools that show results will stay in business, those that fail to teach basic skills will be closed soon because all the students will leave them. Schools that produce results will be self-sustaining and require no government subsidies. This was how American schools operated before the 1930s, and these schools produced some of the greatest minds in history. Research has shown that areas with schools with the least amount of government control produce the best results. Parents must have total choice over their child’s education. The privatization of our schools would not have to mean the end of free education. Those members of the community that think it is important to provide free education would be able to establish their own private school that was funded through voluntary contributions. Those supporting free education could donate as much money as they wanted to the free schools. Perhaps corporations might even set up free schools to teach students the skills they need to work for that corporation.

Home schooling should be a right every parent should fully enjoy. The U.S. Senate should work to protect the sanctity of the family by ensuring that parents may choose how to educate their children. States should be encouraged to repeal mandatory attendance laws. Compulsory government psychotherapy is not education. Perhaps a Constitutional Amendment would be in order enumerating the rights of parents to educate their own children:

The right of the people to educate their children as they see fit shall not be infringed. Nor shall any state make or impose any law requiring school attendance.