Public school advocates will shove this lie down your throat
Public school advocates will claim the government must give all students the “right” to education because the less fortunate can’t afford private schooling.
Listen, only three basic human rights exist: Life, liberty, and property. That means you don’t have the right to anything else. Not healthcare, access to food, or clean water, or so-called education.
You can only acquire negative rights, or, to be more accurate, rights that nobody can infringe on. Negative rights mean freedom from interference, not a guarantee of resources. Even as the State has routinely and illegally interfered on those rights.
Likewise, the State thinks it can “give” people what we call positive rights, like the right to education, healthcare, etc. But the problem with positive rights is this: They come at the expense of another, almost always without their consent.
Public school exists through coercion alone
The only way public school advocates and State apologists can uphold their positive rights doctrine involves the “Robbing Peter to pay Paul” method. This means forcibly taking hard-earned money from taxpayers and, through the State’s stronghold, reallocating that money toward a public project.
But here’s the kicker: Without market forces at play, there’s no certainty, only an assumption, that the money is going toward the public good. Or, worse yet, those in charge think average, everyday people are a bunch of idiots who don’t know what’s best for them, so they claim such coercion and allocation is necessary.
“If we don’t provide public education,” they say, “the poor will suffer.”
This is false. Education doesn’t mean you need to confine a kid to a classroom and an uncomfortable desk for eight hours a day. Further, it also shouldn’t entail rigid structures, a bell system, forcing kids to work on subject matter they may not be interested in, and keeping them confined within its walls against their will.
Those of us who’ve been through public school for 14 years know that what I mentioned above is what it’s all about. And frankly, they’re basically prisons that let you go home before forcing you to go back.
Education is organic
People are individuals, not collective blobs. Therefore, it’s preposterous to think that a “one-size, fits-all” system is the way to go.
Yeah, some people learn best in a public school’s prison framework, but there are so many different personality and learning types out there that a small sliver willingly excel. Others may excel because Mom and Dad leave them with no other option, but it doesn’t mean they wouldn’t learn better using other methods.
Tack on the variety of interests people have and they will pursue learning what they find appealing. This makes education organic, as curiosity will take over.
Is a kid interested in writing? They will organically research how to blog, look up SEO tactics, teach themselves how to write in an active style using common words and phrases, and how AI writing assistants can help speed their production.
Interested in art? The same concept applies. Ditto if they were savvy with tools and gained an interest in auto mechanics. The list never stops, and kids can apply learning to anything that interests them, especially in the age of high-speed internet and AI.
You educate yourself every day without public school
By trade, I’m an opinionated hockey writer. But back in the day, teachers at my local public school tried to discourage my interest in sports during the school day. Instead, they insisted, often loudly and in a way that would catch the rest of the class’s attention, that I focus on “academics.”
Yeah, a fat lot of help that gave me. At some point, I’ll write an open letter to those teachers, send it to my old high school, and inform them of the lousy job they did for me. As opposed to maximizing my interests, they tried to squash them, but I won out in the end.
Why was that? The interest never died, and I spent a few years educating myself on how to break into the industry. It was more like this: “If they’re not gonna teach me, then I’ll teach myself.”
I educated myself every day, and it’s something that everyone does, regardless of their interest. They don’t need to sit still for the greater part of eight hours a day, learning subject matter the State cherry-picked for them.
Kids already know what interests them. And, in that regard, the State is denying them their right to “pursue happiness,” which is sometimes listed in those three basic negative rights as opposed to property.
See self-directed education in action
What does self-directed education look like in a private setting?
In my young adult fantasy series, Arcane Elemental Academy, Yote Diamondback attends a magic academy featuring 32 competing schools. And all 32 of them gears its services toward different personalities and learning styles.
Students pick their own schedules and learn at their own pace. Their days aren’t jam-packed for eight hours, as you’ll see in the public school system. This gives them flexibility and the means to excel. Something that surprises Yote, who’s used to traditional schooling.
So, join Yote on her journey if you love academy fantasy and check out the first three chapters of Book I, The Arcane Prophecy. Here, you’ll meet Yote and see what her life’s like before she steps foot in Arcane and the surrounding region.
