“Public Schools” or “Government Schools”
Time and again there appear in editorials and in news articles references to government schools as "public schools." Such a reference used to roll right off of my own tongue and litter my own writing. Not anymore.
Make no mistake about it, government schools affect entire communities of people, and they are maintained for and used by some of the people in their general geographic area and therefore have been referred to imprecisely as "public," as in the "public good." But they are hardly public in the sense that they are open to the knowledge or judgement of all nor are they organized such that their shares of stock are traded in an open market, in fact there cannot be shares of ownership in such institutions because they are "owned" by the state in a collective sense. Worse yet, here in Wisconsin, the state constitution along with statutory provisions, creates a virtual government imposed and proped up monopoly in the realm of education which limits severly the introduction of other education models. In this sense, there is no diversity except the diversity which is authorized by the state.
Nor can it be argued that there is an inherent "public good" to these institutions (and its model) that is so pervasive and exclusive that it should render all citizens subserviant to them (it). The results of this model of education are available for all to see as compared to other models (non-government schools, home schooling, etc.), and as compared to the history of education going all the way back to classical Athens and beyond. In fact, the contrast between Athenian society and its mode of education verses Sparta and its educational boot camps provides a very revealing study. A contrast I will not delve into deeply here but I highly recommend anyone interested to do so. What you will discover is that the free market for education that permiated Athens produced the most literate and scholarly minds of their era while Sparta (which bares distinct resemblences to the track our statist system is on) produced by and large the least literate people in ancient Greece. Socrates and Plato were both Athenians and Artistotle was a resident alien. Then you had Sophocles, Euripides, and Aristophanes who produced some of ancient Greece's greatest literature. In Sparta, virtually no notable minds were produced.
Fast forward to the 21st century and what do you find? Well, as a result of "school reformers" of the 1800's the chickens have come home to roost and we find ourselves in a situation now where parents are merely spectators in the educational process while control and responsibility has been transferred from parents and granted to elected and appointed government officials. Views and concerns of parents here in the 21st century are given far less weight than those of "professonal educators." The whole purpose and mission of the government schools is clearly not focused primarily on acedemic excellence, rather its aims are primarily focused on social control and social outcomes - just examine the mission statements of any ten randomly selected government school districts in Wisconsin. Anyone who would argue otherwise has a very tough case to make, just look around you and explain the results of non government schools which produce on average better trained minds. There is no evidence from which the claim can be made that government schools produce students with higher academic achievement, or that the environments in government schools are more favorable to parents. There is, however, plenty of evidence to show the opposite.
Just recently I read an editorial in the local Hudson weely paper which stated in part:
The editorial commentary went on to imply that non-government schools offer only selected curriculum to an elite clientele leaving the reader to assume that were it not for government schools democracy and freedom could simply not have survived. Notwithstanding the obvious logical and factual mistatements (government schools were not pre-eminent at our founding, and only showed up about 100 years later in any serious way) in the above quote, the writer's tacit conclusion is fatally flawed. The reality is that America is not a democracy, it is a representative republic based upon the precepts of individual freedom, liberty, and private property.
The truth is that we have made it this far in spite of the educational system sold to us 160 years ago by the likes of Horrace Mann and Egerton Ryerson who,
To refer to a government monstrosity such as this as being "public" is not just a stretch of symantic mental gymnastics but it clearly a diversion, a purposeful technique used by philosophical socialists. It is a diversion, a purposeful tag, in a 150 plus year experiment that has failed. To not call it what it really is, government schooling, would be to plainly and purposefully hide its true purpose and character - that of another interventionist attempt at social control and social engineering, all at the taxpayer's expense.
It bears noting that this same intellectual approach to societal nomenclature was undertaken, again, by philosophical socialists, particularly in the U.S., in reference to term "liberalism." The term "liber" in latin means "free," and liberalism originally meant the philosophy of freedom. It was taken over by the philosophical socialists to refer to their government intervention and "welfare state" programs. Prior to WWII, being a advocate of liberalism meant being an advocate for laissez faire, the antithesis of what is currently understood as liberalism (full government intervention, confiscatory taxation, increasing limitations on private property ownership, and use of government force as a tool to implement its advocates specific social goals - through such mechanisms as government schooling).
As an advocate for laissez faire, and generally a philosophy of individual freedom as envisioned by The Founders, I cannot bring myself, nor should you, to refer to government schools and government controlled education as "public schooling," or to refer to their institutions as "public schools." I suppose the intellectual laziness that does make this reference is to be expected from those who blindly support the government's monopoly status over education, but this mere acceptence through use simply illustrates the effect of brainwashing and not critical or rational thinking.
When the day comes when there is a free market in education, then and only then can we refer to all schools taken together as truly public because in a market based system education would reflect real economic educational choices and direct participation by parents. It would not simply represent the tortured euphamism is does today for what has become a social jobs program masquarading as an educational model...
bildanielson @ OnTheBorderLine
Make no mistake about it, government schools affect entire communities of people, and they are maintained for and used by some of the people in their general geographic area and therefore have been referred to imprecisely as "public," as in the "public good." But they are hardly public in the sense that they are open to the knowledge or judgement of all nor are they organized such that their shares of stock are traded in an open market, in fact there cannot be shares of ownership in such institutions because they are "owned" by the state in a collective sense. Worse yet, here in Wisconsin, the state constitution along with statutory provisions, creates a virtual government imposed and proped up monopoly in the realm of education which limits severly the introduction of other education models. In this sense, there is no diversity except the diversity which is authorized by the state.
Nor can it be argued that there is an inherent "public good" to these institutions (and its model) that is so pervasive and exclusive that it should render all citizens subserviant to them (it). The results of this model of education are available for all to see as compared to other models (non-government schools, home schooling, etc.), and as compared to the history of education going all the way back to classical Athens and beyond. In fact, the contrast between Athenian society and its mode of education verses Sparta and its educational boot camps provides a very revealing study. A contrast I will not delve into deeply here but I highly recommend anyone interested to do so. What you will discover is that the free market for education that permiated Athens produced the most literate and scholarly minds of their era while Sparta (which bares distinct resemblences to the track our statist system is on) produced by and large the least literate people in ancient Greece. Socrates and Plato were both Athenians and Artistotle was a resident alien. Then you had Sophocles, Euripides, and Aristophanes who produced some of ancient Greece's greatest literature. In Sparta, virtually no notable minds were produced.
Fast forward to the 21st century and what do you find? Well, as a result of "school reformers" of the 1800's the chickens have come home to roost and we find ourselves in a situation now where parents are merely spectators in the educational process while control and responsibility has been transferred from parents and granted to elected and appointed government officials. Views and concerns of parents here in the 21st century are given far less weight than those of "professonal educators." The whole purpose and mission of the government schools is clearly not focused primarily on acedemic excellence, rather its aims are primarily focused on social control and social outcomes - just examine the mission statements of any ten randomly selected government school districts in Wisconsin. Anyone who would argue otherwise has a very tough case to make, just look around you and explain the results of non government schools which produce on average better trained minds. There is no evidence from which the claim can be made that government schools produce students with higher academic achievement, or that the environments in government schools are more favorable to parents. There is, however, plenty of evidence to show the opposite.
Just recently I read an editorial in the local Hudson weely paper which stated in part:
"An interesting new term currently being used to show derision is "government school." How thankful I am that in this country we are so fortunate as to have an eduation system free and open to all. The democracy we enjoy is possible only with a literate public, and the lifestyle we take for grated can be maintained only by an educated pupulation. Schools supported by the government are and have been a cornerstone of our society almost since its founding."
The editorial commentary went on to imply that non-government schools offer only selected curriculum to an elite clientele leaving the reader to assume that were it not for government schools democracy and freedom could simply not have survived. Notwithstanding the obvious logical and factual mistatements (government schools were not pre-eminent at our founding, and only showed up about 100 years later in any serious way) in the above quote, the writer's tacit conclusion is fatally flawed. The reality is that America is not a democracy, it is a representative republic based upon the precepts of individual freedom, liberty, and private property.
The truth is that we have made it this far in spite of the educational system sold to us 160 years ago by the likes of Horrace Mann and Egerton Ryerson who,
"rather than examining the historical record to determine the likelihood that their chosen approach to education would succeed, they allowed themselves to be blinded by their romanticized view of government. Our ancestors were swept along for the ride, persuaded more by the fervor of the reformers' rhetoric than by the weight of their evidence. After one hundred fifty years of experience with state schooling, we should now have the wisdom to resist their siren song. Wehn we are promised educational salvation, whether through privatization or yet another tweak to the government system, we should consider the evidence and arguments carefully." Andrew Coulson, Market Education 1999
To refer to a government monstrosity such as this as being "public" is not just a stretch of symantic mental gymnastics but it clearly a diversion, a purposeful technique used by philosophical socialists. It is a diversion, a purposeful tag, in a 150 plus year experiment that has failed. To not call it what it really is, government schooling, would be to plainly and purposefully hide its true purpose and character - that of another interventionist attempt at social control and social engineering, all at the taxpayer's expense.
It bears noting that this same intellectual approach to societal nomenclature was undertaken, again, by philosophical socialists, particularly in the U.S., in reference to term "liberalism." The term "liber" in latin means "free," and liberalism originally meant the philosophy of freedom. It was taken over by the philosophical socialists to refer to their government intervention and "welfare state" programs. Prior to WWII, being a advocate of liberalism meant being an advocate for laissez faire, the antithesis of what is currently understood as liberalism (full government intervention, confiscatory taxation, increasing limitations on private property ownership, and use of government force as a tool to implement its advocates specific social goals - through such mechanisms as government schooling).
As an advocate for laissez faire, and generally a philosophy of individual freedom as envisioned by The Founders, I cannot bring myself, nor should you, to refer to government schools and government controlled education as "public schooling," or to refer to their institutions as "public schools." I suppose the intellectual laziness that does make this reference is to be expected from those who blindly support the government's monopoly status over education, but this mere acceptence through use simply illustrates the effect of brainwashing and not critical or rational thinking.
When the day comes when there is a free market in education, then and only then can we refer to all schools taken together as truly public because in a market based system education would reflect real economic educational choices and direct participation by parents. It would not simply represent the tortured euphamism is does today for what has become a social jobs program masquarading as an educational model...
bildanielson @ OnTheBorderLine
posted by Anonymous @ 12:57 PM
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