Opponents of public education will often hold beliefs that, while seemingly consistent, will paradoxically work against each other. It must be understood that effectively opposing an institution as immense as public education is going to require a coalition commensurate in influence. We must further understand the only means by which that coalition is going to come about.

It may be true that schools are, in effect, similar to prisons. (1) Unfortunately, they’re probably too similar. For the particular people to whom they are host, it’s a navigable, enjoyable environment. Telling them that they must associate with others, “who may be bullies, violent, or emotionally disturbed,” will not be an effective tactic. In public schools, everyone is emotionally disturbed. Most would tout that label with pride.

Convincing others to join your side is a difficult, time consuming task. That’s why politicians don’t try to convince people of anything. Politicians simply try to figure out what things a majority of people want to have, and then they formulate a convincing plan to give those things to everyone. No one’s basic premises change, but the politician will hopefully win.

Making people dislike the principle of coercion will never happen on a large scale. Telling them to oppose a large government for fear of coercion will never be a successful tactic. Because of that, most libertarian arguments against coerced public education will never move from a theoretical to an applicable realm.

Instead, people must be convinced that our current government’s system of education contradicts their existing principles. To that end, Christians seem to be the largest single, politically active segment of America today.

A large number of Christians are unable to see the lack of compatibility between their religion and the coercion of socialism or totalitarianism. Due to human emotional frailty, many probably never will. They must be convinced that there’s another reason public schools are bad. For example, a good, safe thing for them to condemn is sex. Pretty much anyone who calls himself a Christian does that, and no one’s ever afraid to join a crowd.

For that reason, it gives me hope to see certain rulings from such courts as the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals. In a recent case, the court stated that there exists "no fundamental right of parents to be the exclusive provider of information regarding sexual matters to their children.”

As a consequence, some Christians who aren’t always adverse to a paternalistic government condemned what public education essentially does. James Dobson stated, “What parents do not have is the right to raise their own children.”

Of course, some people are still going to miss the point. Jerry Falwell wrote, “Our schools have essentially become mission fields because so many students are completely unaware of who Jesus Christ is. It is imperative that we get a Christian influence back into our nation's schools.”

That’s a blatant rejection of Lord Acton’s most famous words, “Power corrupts.” Falwell believes that it’s perfectly alright for a government – in this case, the most powerful one on the face of the earth – to be powerful, just so long as it has a Christian influence on people. It’s the invention of a new philosophy: “Power begets virtue.”

The problems with public education are systemic. They do not originate with school authorities, and even extracting ambivalent educators from the system wouldn’t succeed in eliminating the real issues. Corruption proceeds from all corridors -- even the students. (4) It’s imbued upon students by their culture.

Coerced association will lead to a process by which the most vicious values of a culture assimilate all others. That must be emphasized when dealing with those who, while perhaps not opposing public education, do oppose the values that will inevitably come out on top.

One advocate of homeschooling stated in an acerbic column, “I have very little hope for this nation.” (5) That’s a good thing – the more pessimistic our society is about its future, the more it will generally distrust its government. To hope for unrivalled virtue, longevity, and wisdom would be to expect what never has been and never will be. Such righteous assumptions have lead many, in various times and places, to a faith that their government had an ability, a right, and perhaps even an obligation, to foolishly do what they wouldn’t hear of anyone else’s government doing.

Our government is incapable of unilaterally instilling virtue in anything, and attempting to do so will only culminate in an opposing consequence. A person may refuse to understand that the principle of coercion alone is a pernicious thing, but when they realize that coercion works to the exclusive end of destroying their values, they’ll become far less tolerant of it. That is what opponents of public education must emphasize.

(1) http://www.newswithviews.com/Turtel/joel.htm

(2) http://www.wnd.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=47371

(3) http://www.wnd.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=47361

(4) http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/11/05/AR2005110501414_pf.html

(5) http://www.newswithviews.com/Levant/nancy8.htm

Rudy Takala is 16 and was homeschooled for nine years. He spends his free time working on a book about education.