"The first article of a bill of rights for a modern, humanist society would correspond to the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution: 'The State shall make no law with respect to the establishment of education.' There shall be no ritual obligatory for all." -- Ivan Illich
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Featured Articles & Essays
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What is 'Freedom of Education'?
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This site assumes an understanding of "freedom of education" that is analogous to the American understanding of the freedoms of religion, speech, press, and assembly.
If freedom of religion does not mean a "right" to compulsory attendance at State-regulated churches where clerics preach a government-approved system of belief, and freedom of assembly doesn't mean the "right" to compulsory attendance at State-run rallies where officials treat us to government-approved speeches, then why would we use the term "freedom of education" to refer to compulsory attendance at State-run schools?
Freedom of education is not education that is controlled or delivered by the State, any more than freedom of speech is speech that is controlled or delivered by the State. Nor is "freedom" to be found within alternatives or mobility within the system (school choice, charter schools). Nor is it found in the "right" to attend State-recognized, State-regulated, privately-funded schools in lieu of State schools. Least of all is it a matter of extending government control -- a.k.a. "strings" -- any more than it already goes into so-called "private schools" (vouchers, tax credits, financial aid).
And freedom of education is certainly not what we exercise when our parents jump through legal hoops so that we may be legally authorized to learn non-institutionally (autonomous education, homeschooling, unschooling, home education, family-based learning, home learning, home-based instruction, autodidacticism, etc.).
If it is to mean anything at all, "freedom of education" can only refer education that is free from government establishment, oversight, restriction, registration, assessment, standards, compulsion, and funding — exactly as we understand "freedom of religion" to mean religious belief and practice that are free of government establishment, oversight, restriction, registration, assessment, standards, compulsion, and funding.
Under political control, there can no more exist true freedom of education than there could freedom of religion, speech, conscience, or anything else.
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John Taylor Gatto's
'Nine Assumptions of Modern Schooling'
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1. Government school is the essential force for social cohesion. It cannot happen any other way. A bureaucratized public order is our defense against chaos and anarchy.
2. The socialization of children in groups monitored by state agents is essential; without this, children cannot learn to get along with others in a pluralistic society.
3. Children from different backgrounds and from families with different beliefs must be mixed together. Robert Frost was wrong when he maintained "good fences make good neighbors."
4. The certifiable expertise of official schoolteachers is superior to that of lay people including parents. The protection of children from the uncertified is a compelling public concern.
5. Coercion in the name of liberty is a valid use of state power. Compelling children to assemble in mandated groups for mandated intervals with mandated texts and overseers does not interfere with academic learning.
6. Children will inevitably grow apart from their parents in beliefs as they grow older and this process must be supported and encouraged. The best way to do this is by diluting parental influence and discouraging the children's attitudes that their own parents are sovereign in either mind or morality.
7. The world is full of crazy parents who will ruin their children. An overriding concern of schooling is to protect children from bad parenting.
8. It is not appropriate for any family to unduly concern itself with the education of its own children, but it may expend unlimited effort on behalf of the general education of everyone.
9. The State has the predominant responsibility for training, morals, and beliefs. Children schooled outside government scrutiny frequently become anti-social and poverty stricken.
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Note Bene
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FreedomOfEducation.net is not affiliated with any person or organization quoted or linked to in these pages.
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Why Separate School & State?
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Freedom of Religion and Public Schooling
(PDF file - opens in new window)
James R. Otteson
"I suggest that the case of government support for education is analogous to the case of government support for religion, and therefore the moral acceptability of the one is the same as that of the other. My suggestion hinges on the claim that both cases fall under the rubric of freedom of conscience, and hence both should be protected on the moral principle that everyone's private conscience is inviolable and ought therefore to be safeguarded."
The Problem Is the Schools
Sheldon Richman
"[The Pledge of Allegiance lawsuit] yet again demonstrates the poisonous consequences of government control of education. When government runs schools, disagreements that would otherwise be easily handled without acrimony become bitter conflicts. There is but one source of the conflict and it is not religion or atheism. It's the use of coercion, taxation, to finance schools. End that, and this conflict evaporates like water on a hot sidewalk."
Alliance for the Separation of School and State
Argues against any interference by government in education.
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Myths of Government Schooling
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Myth #1: The United States was founded on a philosophy or principle of "public" education; thus, the public school system is the Holy Cornerstone of Democracy.
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Myth #2: Government schools are truly "public" schools.
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Myth #3: "Private" schools are more expensive than "public" schools, and it follows, therefore, that only the rich can afford them; that's why we need "public" schooling.
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Myth #4: We are a more literate nation today than we were prior to compulsory government schooling.
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Myth #5: Before the government take-over of education, there weren't enough schools, and many parents neglected their children's education.
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Myth #6: The "public" schools would improve if only they had enough money to do the job right.
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| "Is it not ironical that in a planned society of controlled workers given compulsory assignments, where religious expression is suppressed, the press controlled, and all media of communication censored, where a puppet government is encouraged but denied any real authority, where great attention is given to efficiency and character reports, and attendance at cultural assemblies is mandatory, where it is avowed that all will be administered to each according to his needs and performance required from each according to his abilities, and where those who flee are tracked down, returned, and punished for trying to escape - in short in the milieu of the typical large American secondary school - we attempt to teach 'the democratic system'?" |
Royce Van Norman
"School Administration: Thoughts on Organization and Purpose"
Phi Delta Kappan 47(1966):315-16
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In accordance with United States Code Title 17, Section 107, all material contained herein is distributed for nonprofit educational purposes, and for other fair-use purposes including, but not limited to, criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching, scholarship, or research. For more information see: http://www4.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.html. |
The Underground History of American Education: An Intimate Investigation Into the Problem of Modern Schooling