If public education advocates want to continue to cling to the idea that public schools are necessary for democracy, they ought to explain why the scientific evidence suggests the opposite.
“Democracy” is a confusion-enshrouded, contradictory weapon that has been successfully employed against freedom in education for too long. It is time to reassert liberty as the fundamental American value and cease letting it be trampled by, and for, public schooling.
A chorus of critics are enraged that PBS would air Andrew Coulson’s School Inc. without providing a voice to the “other side.” When has public broadcasting ever been balanced, and what can we really expect from state-run media?
No one has a monopoly on truth. If School Inc. had never gotten airtime, we would not be having this debate.
Many think that pouring exorbitant resources into an inefficient school system can make a sustainable difference in the lives of America’s children. Evidence and theory suggest otherwise.
Since schooling is not a true public good, the basic free-rider problem does not exist. This is important because it means that government does not need to operate schools or force residents to pay for them.
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By Neal McCluskey. Policy Analysis No. 810. February 15, 2017.
By Jason Bedrick, Jonathan Butcher, and Clint Bolick. Policy Analysis No. 785. January 20, 2016.
By Victor Lavy. Research Briefs in Economic Policy No. 23. April 1, 2015.
By Patrick Baude, Marcus Casey, Eric A. Hanushek, & Steven G. Rivkin. Research Briefs in Economic Policy No. 16. December 16, 2014.
In The Beautiful Tree, James Tooley braids together personal experience, community action, and family devotion, and takes readers to the very heart of education. Tooley journeys from Africa to China, sharing insights from children, parents, teachers, and entrepreneurs who taught him that the poor are not waiting for educational handouts. They are building their own schools and learning to save themselves.
To encourage people everywhere to better understand and appreciate the principles of government that are set forth in America’s founding documents, the Cato Institute published this pocket-size edition.
When was the last time you were truly energized by ideas? Cato’s self-paced, home study program enables you to spend time with brilliant minds wherever and whenever you have an opportunity to listen and think.
Americans are diverse – ethnically, religiously, philosophically – but all are forced to support public schools. The intention behind this is largely good: to unite people and minimize discord. However, as the examples contained in this map show, the effect is often very much the opposite. Rather than bringing diverse people together public schooling divides them, forcing them into conflict over whose values and histories will be taught, and whose basic rights will be upheld…or trampled.
