Two factory-like schools. One is a public school, and the other is a private school. A teenage boy sits cross-legged, looking toward both bland buildings.
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Mainstream private Schools aren’t the answer

ByTC Marti

Mainstream private schools aren’t the antidote to public schools. They’re the same system in nicer uniforms. Real education means exiting entirely.

Every time I criticize public school, someone jumps in with, “Well, that’s why I send my kids to private school.”

And nine times out of ten, they mean the same thing:

  • A Catholic school

  • A college-prep academy

  • A parochial institution with uniforms and morning prayers

  • A school with a nearly identical structure to the public system, just with cleaner hallways and maybe a little less DEI

That’s the same system in a different uniform.

Public school with a new paint job

Here’s what most normies can’t wrap their heads around: When libertarians talk about rejecting public education, we’re not just talking about rejecting who pays for it. We’re rejecting what it is, like:

  • Forced conformity

  • Centralized curriculum

  • Bell schedules

  • Behavioral conditioning

  • Mass obedience training

  • A model designed to shape kids into compliant taxpayers

Mainstream private schools, especially the ones that brag about how many of their graduates go to Ivy League universities, run the same model.

They may quote Scripture or add a weekly chapel session, but they’re still preparing kids to fall in line, follow instructions, and “succeed” by playing the state’s game.

That’s grooming for a different flavor of serfdom.

Private schools are just public schools with tuition

Let’s be honest: if your school…

  • Has desks in rows

  • Follows the same school calendar as the public district

  • Requires state-aligned testing

  • Teaches the same core curriculum with minor tweaks

  • Pushes college as the only success path

  • Disciplines kids for asking the wrong questions

  • Bans self-direction, curiosity, or off-script discussion

…then it’s not some radical alternative.

It’s just public school with a Jesus fish slapped on the logo with a Latin motto under it, and $10,000 in tuition bills.

But the core function? Still the same: Mold the child into what the system finds acceptable, just with an outrageous price tag attached.

Real alternatives are decentralized

When we say “education freedom,” we’re talking about breaking the model, like:

  • Homeschooling

  • Unschooling

  • Microschools

  • Self-directed online platforms

  • Tutor co-ops

  • Parents, mentors, or entrepreneurs running hybrid pods.

They’re exits, not tweaks. They don’t beg the system for permission or water down the problem. They walk away from it.

Real education comes from a place that respects the learner as a sovereign mind, not from a place that tells you when to sit, when to speak, and what to think.

Stop equating private with free

Most people are still so conditioned that they think “private” = “freedom.”

It doesn’t.

Private just means not state-run. It doesn’t mean free from state influence, state curriculum, or state-mandated outcomes.

If your school still exists to serve the state’s vision of a productive citizen, it’s still an arm of the system, whether property taxes or your bank account funds it.

What we’re fighting for

I’m not calling for better test scores or more “school choice” in the same factory model. No, we need an exit. A complete reimagining of what it means to learn without coercion, conformity, or top-down control.

So next time I critique public school, don’t hit me with, “Well that’s why we went private.”

Trust me, you didn’t do your kid any favors unless they enjoy wearing khakis and a necktie to school every day.

Want to see what a real alternative looks like?

That’s exactly what my young adult libertarian fantasy Arcane Elemental Academy series is about. Thirty-two rival private schools—no central curriculum, no state tests, no forced conformity. Each student learns in the way that suits them best.

But before our fearless protagonist, Yote Diamondback, attends Arcane, she and her notorious sister need to finish their middle school careers. And guess what? They don’t go to a public school, but a private one not much different than what I lambasted in this article.

Check out Yote’s story and see what she was up to before she hightailed north to Arcane Elemental Academy.

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