David Cox
I believe we have confused the term “public education” with “government schools.” Public education is not necessarily government education. It has just become that by government takeover.
Public education was created in the 1600s by the Puritans. It predates this country. Indeed it helped create the New England common people who were educated and independent enough to start the revolution that created our country!
For the first 250-300 years public education was NOT government education. It was a publicly held, locally owned corporation where the local property owners (taxpayers) were the shareholders. They controlled education. This changed when, first the school districts in growing cities became big. They became the flag ships that everyone looked to. Their property values (and thus tax revenues) increased rapidly, while the rural, smaller districts did not. The smaller districts coveted the revenues and begged for state revenue sharing. That led to state control, which might not be so bad, but that led in the 1960 Presidential election to Kennedy blaming schools for Soviet space advances and at the same time promising federal funding for them. That is what won the election for him, and THAT is when the change to becoming government schools started. False philosophies had been around for 50 years and more. They had some limited impact, but did not prevail until the national takeover began.
Public education isn’t the villain. The villain is government intrusion, which has been bought with tax revenue. Even the union isn’t the fault. It is rather an indication and complicator of the problem. The cancerous philosophy that government can guarantee success has grown exponentially in the last 50 years. It is destroying self responsibility and initiative. It also promotes and protects false philosophies. Actually it is amazing how good the schools are given the situation. That is a reflection of parents and teachers who have held to correct beliefs they grew up with and learned in their families and churches. Otherwise the schools would be much worse, and are in some places.
A community coming together to do the education of their children is not the problem. The problem is national interference and take over. Eliminate that, including restoring districts to community size, and education would be more likely to do a better job.
The concept of public schools being a separate entity from the government disappeared when the schools began to levy taxes upon the properties of areas rather than only those they served. An organization that levies a tax, of any type, upon the persons within a geographic area is a government agency. And, it must be either a State or a Political Subdvision of the state in which it operates. Because, otherwise, they would be a government unto themselves and not subject to any federal or state laws for their activities.
As a private entity it can levy tuition and subscription fees to support it’s operations from those who attend or voluntarily subscribe to it, whether the subscribers receive any services or not. Levying of involuntary taxes is a function reserved for governments.
In most states, tax derived funds can’t be provided to any organization unless the government agency providing them recieves a product or service at least equal to the value of the funds. Therefore, state funding to a school could be illegal.
The real reason for the school mess we have is the insane desire for “pass the test” as the primary level of instruction. The education systems tend to teach only enough to pass the test that will be given by the state or federal education agencies at the end of the year. And, the ultimate message that achieving is only enough to pass the test.
Excellence in education is achieved by lighting the fire to learn in the brain of a child and tend that flame until adulthood. This can only be accomplished by dedicated educators that posess a passion to have every student reach the level of their capability. That passion can only flourish when educators are allowed to innovate and individualize their teaching to fit the group or even individual learning needs of those they are entrusted to prepare for future career successes.
Thanks, Gerald!