On government education

Apparently some people thought there might be an issue where teachers in Indiana do not cover the Holocaust – or cover it adequately enough. Therefore Indiana has some new legislation in the works, mandating it be taught as a part of high school US history classes.

My opinion – the short version – is that this is an unnecessary law.

The simplest way I can explain how I come to that opinion is that I favor ending government involvement in education. There are a variety of reasons for this, which the Alliance for the Separation of School & State (archived) explains well, but I will focus on the one that is most applicable to this topic.

Government education is antithetical to liberty.

Yes, I said it.

For starters we have the obvious nature of force involved. You will see this is the case if you stop sending your child to government school and do not jump through the hoops for acceptable private schooling – or stop paying the taxes that fund education. The government will come knocking on your door soon enough and make you comply. This government force is in opposition to liberty.

Beyond that, government will not undermine itself or its “vested interests.” Certain things will be taught and others most definitely will not. A class on the Holocaust would cover the atrocities that occurred, but it seems unlikely it would explain how government power was an enabler of the atrocities and how citizens should implicitly distrust government power. Blame will go to specific people or specific groups only, and nothing to the system. It is crucial for government to have citizens that are trusting and subservient; the inherent lesson throughout government schooling is that our government is to be trusted. Unquestioning trust of government is in opposition to liberty.

In a free market education system, the solution to a school not teaching adequately on a topic would be to send your child elsewhere. Since educators would need to compete, they would need to respond to the demand or risk going out of business. These market forces of the consumer's choices would regulate the system far more efficiently than laws made by those with the most political power.

There's a certain sad irony about this whole situation – using government dictate to ensure the past ills of government dictate are taught in schools.

This article was originally published on INtake Blogsquad (archived).