Recommendable! Food for thought!
Government shall not run public schools and the education of our children! Largely privatize public schooling! Public schooling of most children was not established until the late 19th century. Before that children were already reasonably educated without Big Government! We the people are very well capable of organizing the education of our children!
"... We are told that public schooling is the “cornerstone” or “bedrock” of American democracy, and anything departing from it would cause unity and rule by the people to crumble. ...
It took several decades after [Horace] Mann’s [1848] crusade to solidify public schooling as the educational norm, but it eventually came to dominate. The earliest, readily available data we have on where children have gone to school dates back to 1889, and they consistently show roughly 90 percent of students attending public schools. We also see more children spending increasing amounts of time in school as time passes: from about 65 percent of 5 to 17‐year‐olds spending roughly 78 days in school in 1869, to more than 94 percent spending 167 days today. ...
The Capitol riot seems like prima facie evidence of a dissolution of social cohesion and democratic values, especially coming off years of highly contentious elections, demonstrations against police brutality that sometimes spun off destruction, “cancel culture,” and more. Deeper analyses back up this seemingly obvious state of affairs. These include non‐negligible support for unilateral presidential rule or even a military coup under certain conditions; findings of markedly increased demonization of members of opposing political parties since the late 1960s; partisan affiliations being seen as legitimate negative factors to use in hiring decisions; declining trust in numerous American institutions, including government; and declining generalized trust, with the share of General Social Survey respondents agreeing that “most people can be trusted” dropping from 46 percent in 1972 to 21 percent in 2018. ...
Clearly, widespread public schooling has not prevented the decay of social cohesion and democratic norms. Probably because it never had the power to do so. The education system cannot force people to like one another or democracy, nor can it maintain those things if people turn against them. Democratically controlled schooling is more likely to reflect decrepit attitudes than change them. ..."
The notion that “common” schooling is crucial to democracy has some illustrious early propagators. Thomas Jefferson – generally not a proponent of energetic government – was perhaps the most famous Founder to champion public schooling, calling for a basic, publicly funded schooling system in Virginia. He wrote in 1786, “I think by far the most important bill in our whole code is that for the diffusion of knowledge among the people. No other sure foundation can be devised for the preservation of freedom, and happiness.” He was not alone in this belief, with John Adams and others also asserting the importance of widespread education delivered, at least partially, by public schools.
Despite the enthusiasm for public schooling among some founding luminaries, little was established in their lifetimes. ...It took several decades after [Horace] Mann’s [1848] crusade to solidify public schooling as the educational norm, but it eventually came to dominate. The earliest, readily available data we have on where children have gone to school dates back to 1889, and they consistently show roughly 90 percent of students attending public schools. We also see more children spending increasing amounts of time in school as time passes: from about 65 percent of 5 to 17‐year‐olds spending roughly 78 days in school in 1869, to more than 94 percent spending 167 days today. ...
The Capitol riot seems like prima facie evidence of a dissolution of social cohesion and democratic values, especially coming off years of highly contentious elections, demonstrations against police brutality that sometimes spun off destruction, “cancel culture,” and more. Deeper analyses back up this seemingly obvious state of affairs. These include non‐negligible support for unilateral presidential rule or even a military coup under certain conditions; findings of markedly increased demonization of members of opposing political parties since the late 1960s; partisan affiliations being seen as legitimate negative factors to use in hiring decisions; declining trust in numerous American institutions, including government; and declining generalized trust, with the share of General Social Survey respondents agreeing that “most people can be trusted” dropping from 46 percent in 1972 to 21 percent in 2018. ...
Clearly, widespread public schooling has not prevented the decay of social cohesion and democratic norms. Probably because it never had the power to do so. The education system cannot force people to like one another or democracy, nor can it maintain those things if people turn against them. Democratically controlled schooling is more likely to reflect decrepit attitudes than change them. ..."
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