School choice hypocrisy

Few things are more personal and private to individuals in a free society than what they think and what they believe.  That includes speech, association, religion and education – the right to seek information in pursuit of your own life, liberty and happiness.

That’s why government compulsory education schemes which require children and parents to participate in forced indoctrination programs are fundamentally unconstitutional. Education is not a proper function of government. Your education and that of your children is none of the governments business.

All education provisions and programs should therefore be private. Taxpayers should not be burdened with the obligation to pay for any education programs to individuals beyond the basic teaching of reading, writing and reckoning. Once individuals learn how to read, write and reckon, they are fully equipped to pursue their own personal and private educational goals.

In short, all education should be private; all schools should be private schools. There should be no public taxpayer supported schools. All education programs should be voluntary. There should be no government compulsory education schemes.  All education should be a matter of choice. And taxpayers should not be obligated to pay for those choices.

But some education statists want to make the choices for their own children while denying education choice for others. They seek to force most children to attend public schools where they’ll be indoctrinated with the government agenda, while they send their own children to private schools of their choice.

They practice school choice hypocrisy.

Sen. Al Franken, a statist Democrat from Minnesota, is one of them.  

This guy was highly critical of Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos during her confirmation hearing because she never attended or sent her children to a public school. But he never attended public school as a kid either, and now sends his own kids to exclusive private schools. They go to the Dalton School in New York City, “known for educating celebrities and children of royalty,” where tuition is $44,640 per year per kid.  

But DeVos is “fundamentally unqualified to lead the Education Department,” says Franken as he opposed her appointment. “She has never attended a public school; she has never sent a child to a public school.”

The problem with DeVose is that she wants the taxpayers to pay for all individuals personal and private education choices. She wants you and I to pay to send children to private schools, including religious schools, where they can receive a religious education courtesy of the government at taxpayer expense. She wants the public schools to teach all the children about Jesus. “People deserve choices and options,” she explains.

Well, of course they do, but we shouldn’t be obligated to pay for it.

Both DeVos and Franken are guilty of school choice hypocrisy.