Why Private Schools are Better than Public shools.

World Without Public Schools

by David Gelernter

The Weekly Standard

Should America have public schools , or would we do better without them Nothing is more important to this country than the transformation of children into educated American citizens . That 's what public schools are for , and no institutions are better suited to the role--in principle They used to fill it with distinction

But there 's no reason we must have public schools . Granted , the public has a strong interest in educating America 's children , at a cost that 's divided

equitably among all taxpayers and not borne by the parents of school-age children alone . But these requirements don 't imply any need for public schools . We need an Air Force , and the Air Force needs planes . Taxpayers pay for the force and the planes . But the pilots are supplied directly by the government , the airplanes by private companies (with government oversight and assistance . Schooling might be furnished on either model : mainly by public or mainly by private organizations . We know that private schools are perfectly capable of supplying first-class educations . So the question stands : Why have public schools ? How should we decide whether to have them or not

Vouchers have been a popular and promising (and controversial ) idea for years . Under voucher plans , the public pays part or all of the bill when a child attends private school . But here I am talking about the whole hog , not just the tail and a couple of trotters . If sending some children to private school at public expense is worth discussing , why not sending all children to private school

Why not liberate all the vast resources we spend on public schools to be re-channeled to private schools chosen by the nation 's parents ? Any public school offering an education that parents will actually pay for (of their own free will ) would presumably be replaced by a private school offering essentially the same thing . But a vast array of new private schools would germinate also . And a vast number of failed public schools would disappear

I n the system I am picturing , education would continue to be free and accessible to every child , and all taxpayers would continue to pay for it . Parents would be guaranteed access to "reasonable " schools that cost them nothing beyond what they pay in taxes . It would all be just like today--except that public schools would have vanished

Would private organizations be capable of providing enough new schools to replace our gigantic public schools establishment ? Private enterprise is alleged to be smarter and more resourceful in America than anywhere else in the world . So let 's suppose that private schools can indeed meet the needs of nearly all parents . Do we actually need and want our public schools , or do we keep them around out of fear of the teachers unions--and habit , like a broken child 's toy we are too sentimental to throw away

The basic law of public schools

Many sources agree that , on the whole...