There should be no compromise on theory or action. Government schools retard civilization. The incentives are all wrong- as with any tax funded, unionized and increasingly nationalized apparatus would be. The calculation problem is the absolute trump card. But Hess, Diane Ravitch, Deb Meier and hosts of Establishment thinkers will never get there; “there” meaning the social understanding as put down by Mises. These people, as well as the CATO voucher apologists, plutocrat charter school proponents, and other half-wayers are not even open to real market ideas. Only Deb Meier sees plausibility in “democratic” forms of schooling secession; though she, as well as the rest- can’t come to any agreement on what democracy is beyond that it is some form of government control.

There are so many sad ironies about reform. Race is one major example. Charles Murray, the Catoid-statist libertarian, has offered statistical proof of black inferiority to all those who want to sink into modern genetic-phrenological-determinist polylogism. First of all, the stats are based on an artificial system that only has meaning within itself- a fake world that still has to face the consequences of reality, however! But what can be said of a people (excuse the aggregation) that were denied education by law (to one degree or another) for centuries through slavery, black codes, Jim Crow, Segregation- and what is very much overlooked: government run schools? One might argue that social-racial stratifications were frozen in time at the entry points of progressivism and socialism- as one might expect from governmental intrusions. I think Murray touches on this a little- and advocates half-way measures; but as a conservative I don’t think he admits, as Mises did in Theory and History, that with freedom someday the “inferior” races may surpass whites in civilized achievement.

For the vast majority of the population, it would be better if the taxes that went to state education were simply eliminated and they were allowed to educate their children as they saw fit (most education taxes, especially at the state and local levels, fall most heavily on the middle class anyway). The modern education system bears very little relationship to what will make students prepared for the workforce. It provides little in the way of practical skills, and consistently fails to teach even basic reading and mathematics (which would serve at least as a useful basis for acquiring marketable skills).

Holding teachers accountable is a rather difficult thing to do in reality. Learning is not so easily measured; standardized tests don’t do a good job in this regard. And the school environment is rather artificial. After all, what job do you know of where you are to sit at your desk, be quiet, and fill in multiple choice circles?