Maryland Governor Larry Hogan recently signed an executive order forbidding
Maryland public schools from beginning classes before Labor Day. Governor Hogan's
executive order benefits businesses in Maryland's coastal areas that lose school-aged
summer employees and business from Maryland families when schools start in
August. However, as Governor Hogan's critics have pointed out, some Maryland
school districts, as well as Maryland schoolchildren, benefit from an earlier
start to the school year.
Governor Hogan's executive order is the latest example of how centralized
government control of education leaves many students behind. A centrally planned
education system can no more meet the unique needs of every child than a centrally
planned economic system can meet the unique needs of every worker and consumer.
Centralizing education at the state or, worse, federal level inevitably leads
to political conflicts over issues ranging from whether students should be
allowed to pray on school grounds, to what should be the curriculum, to what
food should be served in the cafeteria, to who should be allowed to use which
bathroom.
The centralization and politicization of education is rooted in the idea that
education is a right that must be provided by the government, instead of a
good that individuals should obtain in the market. Separating school from state
would empower parents to find an education system that meets the needs of their
children instead of using the political process to force their idea of a good
education on all children.
While many politicians praise local and parental control of education, the
fact is both major parties embrace federal control of education. The two sides
only differ on the details. Liberals who oppose the testing mandates of No
Child Left Behind enthusiastically backed President Clinton's national testing
proposals. They also back the Obama administration's expansion of federal interference
in the classroom via Common Core.
Similarly, conservatives who (correctly) not just opposed Clinton's initiatives
but called for the abolition of the Department of Education enthusiastically
supported No Child Left Behind. Even most conservatives who oppose Common Core,
federal bathroom and cafeteria mandates, and other federal education policies,
support reforming, instead of eliminating, the Department of Education.
Politicians will not voluntarily relinquish control over education to parents.
Therefore, parents and other concerned citizens should take a page from the
UK and work to “Ed-Exit” government-controlled education. Parents and other
concerned citizens should pressure Congress to finally shut down the Department
of Education and return the money to American families. They also must pressure
state governments and local school boards to reject federal mandates, even
if it means forgoing federal funding.
Parents should also explore education alternatives, such as private, charter,
and religious schools, as well as homeschooling. Homeschooling is the ultimate
form of Ed-Exit. Homeschooling parents have the freedom to shape every aspect
of education -- from the curriculum to the length of the school day to what
their children have for lunch to who can and cannot use the bathroom -- to
fit their child's unique needs.
Parents interested in providing their children with a quality education emphasizing
the ideas of liberty should try out my homeschooling curriculum. The curriculum
provides students with a well-rounded education that includes courses in personal
finance and public speaking. The government and history sections of the curriculum
emphasize Austrian economics, libertarian political theory, and the history
of liberty. However, unlike government schools, my curriculum never puts ideological
indoctrination ahead of education.
