March 5, 2012 12:19PM 

# Girl Likens Public School Failure to Ban on Teaching Slaves to Read 

By [Andrew J. Coulson](https://www.cato.org/people/andrew-coulson) 

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A 13-year-old black girl from Rochester likens the pedagogical malfeasance of her public school to the deliberate prohibition against teaching slaves to read–as recounted by Frederick Douglass in his autobiography. [And she is hounded out of the school](http://www.fdfny.org/blog/2012/02/17/they-kicked-her-off-the-plantation/).

We can do better than this. We need [a free marketplace in education with financial assistance to ensure universal access](http://dailycaller.com/2011/11/10/better-education-through-lower-taxes/). Scholarship donation and personal use education tax credits can do that.

##### Related Tags 

[Education](https://www.cato.org/education), [Center for Educational Freedom](https://www.cato.org/center-educational-freedom) 

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