Education: Free and Compulsory

We don't need no education
We don't need no thought control
No dark sarcasm in the classroom
Teacher, leave them kids alone
--Pink Floyd

This monograph by Rothbard should be required reading for all 'educationalists' and others who believe in the folly of government run schools and compulsory education (pdf here). This would never happen, of course, because of the psychic pain that would be inflicted upon proponents of forced education would be hard to endure.

The flow of this monograph is consummate Rothbard. He first deduces rationale for education, the various options available (parent vs outsource, etc), and the theoretical problems with the outsourcing option when it comes to knowledge building and freedom. He then reviews the history of publics schools and compulsory education beginning in the 1500s with Martin Luther in Germany and John Calvin in Geneva. I found this excellent perspective.

The purpose of the present missive is not to provide a book report. The interested reader can chew thru this work in an hour or so.

Here, I would like to present some propositions or predictions that should follow from instituting public schools and compulsory education. Stated differently, imagine that you could forecast the potential consequences of compulsory education overseen by the State before it became operational in the US. What would you forecast, based on the logic and deductions that Rothbard presents--primarily in the first half of his monograph?

-->desire for 'equality' will set classroom pace and performance at average level, reducing development of variety among individuals. Dullards 'too fast' and gifted 'too slow' will get discouraged; average will get discouraged as they observe performance of the gifted. Any attempts to compartmentalize thse groups will exacerbate the effect.

-->reasoning and individualism will be repressed in favor of groupthink and collectivism.

-->market for alternative education processes that specialize/tailor to particular learner segments and interests will be underdeveloped.

-->parents will become less responsible and engaged in education of their children when State takes control over the process.

-->there will be ongoing movements for standardized curricula and evaluation methods.

-->curricula will include content and techniques for inculcating reverence to the State. Thought control.

-->public schools will prove unable to differentiate and respond to particular tastes like private school alternatives.

-->private school alternative will be positioned at high end of educational spectrum. Private alternatives for dullards will be less likely because public schools will have monopolistic position of this segment.

-->students will fear making mistakes, which in turn will reduce their learning capacity and erode joy of learning.

-->social stigma associated with home schooling will increase.

-->collectivist groups such as labor unions will rise in support of public schools.

-->mandatory teacher certification increases groupthink among instructors and impair entry of novel thoughts and educational processes.

-->critical thinking and reasoning capacities will be underdeveloped in society.

-->people will prefer opinions of experts or majority opinion rather than thinking for themselves.

-->general performance on standardized tests on core competencies (e.g., three R's) will stagnate or perhaps decline over time.

-->gradeflation or calls for grade abolishment will increase.

-->propaganda movements touting the importance of compulsory public school education will increase.

-->costs will rise, facilities will fall into disrepair, innovation will stagnate - predictable to all State run bureaucracies.

-->proponents of public schools will continually seek the strong arm of government to expropriate more and more economic resources from taxpayers.

Have not all of these propositions garnered empirical support?

Reference

Rothbard, M. 1999. Education: Free and compulsory. Auburn, AL: Mises Institute.