A Teacher Questions Compulsory Schooling
Jim Strickland | Natural Life Magazine | Nov/Dec 2008
"Compulsory attendance laws undermine learning by creating an atmosphere of coercion, mistrust and manipulation. They do this by their very existence as the faint (or not-so faint) hum in the background of each potentially joyful moment in every classroom. We all know the best way to make anyone hate doing something is to force their compliance under threat of punishment. Learning that is meaningful, lasting and real can only take place with the consent and willing participation of the learner. One cannot teach the values of freedom and democracy using a totalitarian pedagogy. The medium is the message."

Assumption 5: "Schools Have a Noble Purpose"
Wendy Priesnitz
Excerpt from Challenging Assumptions in Education (2008, The Alternate Press)
"Scratch the surface of most public school systems and you will find something quite different than justice and democracy, in spite of good intentions. You will find an archaic institution, which defies everything we know about effective organizations and what we have learned about cognitive development. You will also find an institution that perpetuates social hierarchies, disempowers people and forces them to do things against their will – supposedly for their own good – while encouraging a destructive level of consumerism and consumption. If a democratic society is one in which people are collectively in control of their lives and the lives of their communities, then our present-day school systems are anti-democratic."

What If Public Schools Were Abolished?
Llewellyn H. Rockwell, Jr. | Ludwig von Mises INstitute (04.08)

A Libertarian Solution to Evolution Education Controversy: No More Public Schools
Interview with Andrew Coulson
Brandon Keim | Wired Science (01.08)