The National Public Education Channel

"His brain has not only been washed, as they say. It has been dry cleaned."
--Dr Yen Lo (The Manchurian Candidate)

Rothbard draws an excellent analogy about the problem of compulsory education. Instead of using newspapers, I will employ 'public media network' to better reflect today's choices.

Suppose that the federal government proposed using taxpayer money to create a nationwide public media network and compelled all children (or all people for that matter) to view/read/listen to them. The government would also outlaw all private outlets that did not comply with standards set by a government commission on what children ought to be exposed to.

As Rothbard observes, the American people would likely regard such a proposal with horror. And yet, this is precisely the sort of regime that the government has established in the sphere of educational instruction.