My thoughts on education

I have been debating on whether or not to blog on this subject because it is controversial and will probably offend most of my readers, who consequently are some of my dearest friends. Despite these facts I am writing anyway because I am truly passionate about the topic and because it is raining like crazy and I have nothing better to do.

The subject of education has occupied a great deal of my thoughts lately simply because Liberty is rapidly approaching the age when her formal education will begin. Scott and I have decided to home school Liberty. We are committed to this decision primarily because we feel it is our right and responsibility to educate our children and because the public education system is a complete failure. My goal here is not to defend our position on the matter. My only purpose here is to organize my thoughts on the subject.

I specifically want to focus on our two primary reasons for choosing to home school. I am actually taking some liberty in including Scott in this thought process. He can come back and correct any point which he feels I have incorrectly assumed he agrees. First, the government funded, public education system is, without a doubt, a complete and total failure. It cannot be reformed and therefore should be abandoned entirely. While this may seem completely irrational and perhaps even crazy, I stand wholeheartedly by this statement. I firmly believe the government has no obligation to provide free, public education nor should it. The reasons for this catastrophic failure can be linked to the motives and priorities of our government which are not are not to provide our children with quality education, but to empty our pockets of the money we have earned and deprive us of our truly inherent rights (one of which is not education). With that being said, I do believe there is a place for privately owned institutes of learning as it applies in the context of capitalism. This, however, is entirely a subject of its own.

Furthermore, we feel as parents that it is not only our right but also our responsibility to educate our children. My primary concern is not that the government has created a system that fails to meet my expectations. It is the nature of government to impose regulations and strip us of freedoms it claims to protect. My bigger concern is that parents have so willingly given up the responsibility of educating their children and delivered them into the hands of the government. Not only have parents submitted to this failing system, they believe that the government should and must provide public education. I simply cannot justify or support a system that exposes my child to a code of moral depravity abhorrent even by the lowest standards and permits mediocrity as the highest level of achievement.

Again, my purpose is not to defend these statements, therefore, I will not attempt to provide facts to validate my position. We have chosen this course based on these convictions. Scott and I are really looking forward to educating Liberty and providing her with a foundation of faith and values that will serve her as an adult. These are things a public education cannot and should not provide.