June 23, 2010 12:02PM 

# In Iowa, They Know Why We Fight 

By [Neal McCluskey](https://www.cato.org/people/neal-mccluskey) 

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Why do public schools create lots of conflict? Because, as I labored to explain in my Policy Analysis *[Why We Fight: How Public Schools Cause Social Conflict](https://www.cato.org/pub_display.php?pub_id=7040)*, they force people with diverse views to support a single system of schools, making battles over whose values the schools will teach almost inevitable. Well, in Shenandoah, Iowa — where the people are in a [huge row over sex ed ](http://www.foxnews.com/us/2010/06/22/graphic-sex-ed-class/?test=latestnews)– district superintendent Dick Profit summarized the problem much more colorfully, and effectively, than I have:

> It’s a political hot potato; it’s a religious hot potato; it’s a parental hot potato…It’s all of these things that cause a crack in the system between society, parents and schools, and we’re still required to do it.

[Diane Ravitch](http://www.heartland.org/schoolreform-news.org/Article/27235/AntiChoice_Book_Ignores_Evidence_of_Need_for_Reform.html), give Mr. Profit a call.

##### Related Tags 

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

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