Why Public Schools?

Public Ed 101
Why have it?
By Jonah Goldberg

Here's a good question for you: Why have public
schools at all?


O.K., cue the marching music. We need public schools
because blah blah blah and yada yada yada. We could
say blah is common culture and yada is the
government's interest in promoting the general
welfare. Or that children are the future. And a mind
is a terrible thing to waste. Because we can't leave
any child behind.

The problem with all these bromides is that they leave
out the simple fact that one of the surest ways to
leave a kid "behind" is to hand him over to the
government. Americans want universal education, just
as they want universally safe food. But nobody
believes that the government should run 90 percent of
the restaurants, farms, and supermarkets. Why should
it run 90 percent of the schools — particularly when
it gets terrible results?

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Public Schools?