Public Schools

"Public education is the biggest problem I have with libertarianism. "

Cool, that's the biggest problem I have with the welfare state. The public, secular schools are unable to teach values because religion has been banned. As an atheist, I'm somewhat happy I wasn't forced to hear about Jesus all day but at the same time I think it would have been a lot better if most of the people I went to school with had spiritual instruction; I think religious schools "work" a lot better as far as raising people who are not immoral is concerned.

We want to think that our public schools help people : but what proof do we have? Surprisingly, I think you will find it all comes down to the government and the schools telling us that schools help people. You need an education to get a job, need university to get a good job, etc. I do not believe this to be true. I think people need to be able to WORK to get a job; you might have to start somewhere low but if you're hard working, talented and ambitious you will always succeed. If you are lazy and untalented, you will probably fail no matter what you do.

Some people are helped by school. This is not because school exists, but because there exists within them a great will to learn, a will not our authoritarian school system cannot beat out of them. It should be obvious the structure of the school system is very authoritarian : 30 or more students sit in silence, while a teacher explains dogmatically what is true and what is false. Where, I ask you, did they think this would teach people how to learn?

What's my solution? I can't tell you exactly what form it would take... if I could, well that would be a pretty good argument for central economic planning, or socialism... which is the current system. I've got some ideas... schools over the internet would probably be the preferred market form, because what is learning but communication and what is the internet but the cheapest way to communicate... ever. But the current solution, that is socialism... it just doesn't work and that's obvious in my opinion by the billions we waste on it.

Politicians want you to believe that all we need to fix these problems is a few more billion, a little more tax... what we actually need to do is get more efficient.