Post by RS Davis on May 5, 2004 10:15:03 GMT -5
[glow=red,2,300]Robert Murphy Wrote:[/glow]
The desire for education is as universal (and as open-ended) as the desire for food or housing. And even though these markets themselves are far from laissez-faire, the options here range from Taco Bell all the way up to five-star restaurants with master chefs, and from tiny apartments all the way up to mansions situated on golf courses.[1] In contrast, there is not nearly the same qualitative difference between an education at a community college versus an Ivy League school; the material and format of the college experience is largely the same, except that the difficulty at a Harvard or Yale is higher.
As in other contexts, the proponent of massive deregulation in education is at a loss to describe exactly what the market would erect if the State's propaganda centers were allowed to crumble. After all, that's one of the strongest arguments for liberty: We just don't know what improvements will be discovered by clever entrepreneurs. (If we did, concerned parents would already be lobbying for such changes at their current schools.) But one sure sign that the present system is horribly failing is the success of the homeschooling movement. In my experience, some of the very best students were not products of institutionalized schooling, but instead were taught by Mom and Dad (even through the high school level).
On the one hand, this phenomenon is a tribute to the abilities of average parents who are concerned with their children's education. But on the other, it is a shocking indictment of government and even many private schools, for we should certainly expect the division of labor to operate in the area of education as well as in other contexts. (We would certainly be surprised to discover that the children with the straightest teeth were those who had braces applied by their parents, rather than professional orthodontists.)
The desire for education is as universal (and as open-ended) as the desire for food or housing. And even though these markets themselves are far from laissez-faire, the options here range from Taco Bell all the way up to five-star restaurants with master chefs, and from tiny apartments all the way up to mansions situated on golf courses.[1] In contrast, there is not nearly the same qualitative difference between an education at a community college versus an Ivy League school; the material and format of the college experience is largely the same, except that the difficulty at a Harvard or Yale is higher.
As in other contexts, the proponent of massive deregulation in education is at a loss to describe exactly what the market would erect if the State's propaganda centers were allowed to crumble. After all, that's one of the strongest arguments for liberty: We just don't know what improvements will be discovered by clever entrepreneurs. (If we did, concerned parents would already be lobbying for such changes at their current schools.) But one sure sign that the present system is horribly failing is the success of the homeschooling movement. In my experience, some of the very best students were not products of institutionalized schooling, but instead were taught by Mom and Dad (even through the high school level).
On the one hand, this phenomenon is a tribute to the abilities of average parents who are concerned with their children's education. But on the other, it is a shocking indictment of government and even many private schools, for we should certainly expect the division of labor to operate in the area of education as well as in other contexts. (We would certainly be surprised to discover that the children with the straightest teeth were those who had braces applied by their parents, rather than professional orthodontists.)
