Is It Time to Replace Government Schools?

John Hood’s lengthy article, “The Failure of Amerian Public Education,” provides a helpful recap of the history of public schools in the United States. The rationale for the creation of public schools, including their use as a “melting pot” to create cultural homogeneity, often runs counter to modern sensibilities. The downward trend in academic achievement should also be ringing alarm bells. Add to that, the current push to use public schools to indoctrinate students into politically-correct thinking.

Hood concludes his article with a recognition that the system is beyond fixing:

By any reasonable measure, America’s monopolistic, bureaucratic, over-regulated system of public schools is woefully unprepared to meet the challenges of the twenty-first century. Political, business, and education leaders continue to talk about “reforming” the current public education system. They should, instead, be discussing how to replace it.

https://fee.org/articles/the-failure-of-american-public-education/

Many parents have already voted with their feet by taking their children out of government-funded K-12 systems. At the same time, many colleges and universities are also struggling to survive for a host of reasons that mirror some of those affecting K-12 education and that have been exacerbated by Covid 19.

It’s time to rethink the system from preschool through college.