Who Should Control Education

Leftists have always wanted control over education so as to help them shape people’s minds. They want citizens who will readily accept governmental dominion over them. That’s best achieved by using the education system to impart “progressive” beliefs and stamp out individual thinking.

But to classical liberals, the idea of government-controlled education is frightful. We understand that it will be used to cement in place the ruling party’s dominance. It’s a recipe for both poor education and tyranny.

In this essay, C. Bradley Thompson argues for the classical-liberal position.

Here’s a key paragraph:

In a properly constructed free society dedicated to protecting the rights of individuals, parents can expect and demand from their neighbors and the government a large sphere of autonomy and noninterference when it comes to raising and educating their children. Individuals will and do disagree about how to feed, clothe, shelter, and educate children, but no one—including the State—has a right to force parents to raise their children in a manner of which the parents disapprove.