Charter Schools & Choice

Reposted as history. Originally posted in May of 2005.

What is all the fuss about?

Debra England - May 1, 2005 - TownHall.com

In The Road to Serfdom, a brilliant treatise on the dangers of collectivist ideologies, Nobel Prize-winning economist F.A. Hayek demonstrated the contradictions inherent between command economies and personal liberty. Hayek deftly illustrated how attempts to control entire economies – or even significant portions of an economy - result inevitably in the growth of totalitarianism and a commensurate loss of personal freedom. Where better to apply Hayek’s analysis today than to the $400 billion anachronistic government monopoly that is our public K-12 educational system?

How can there be so many problems with our school system? I have met numerous public school teachers who are good decent people, and yet they are incapable of seeing how horrible the sysetm they work in performs. They are defensive about criticism of the system and become hostile very quickly if you question anything about it. They have good intentions and thus cannot see how the results of their efforts do not match.

There could not be a single greater improvement to the education system than if every teacher was compelled to understand how "good intentions" can destroy personal freedom as shown by The Road to Serfdom. Perhaps they would stop believing that all who are unhappy with the current state of education are their enemies.