What's Best For Kids

Had he (a parent) sought out and hired a teacher for his child, that teacher might well say: Having chosen me for this work, you will either have to trust that I know better than you how to accomplish it, or go and find some other teacher for your child. But an agent of government can not afford to commend the competition.

That quote is from one Richard Mitchell, the self styled Underground Grammarian from years past and someone from whom I learned more about teaching and government authority (I'm willing to argue abuse of authority) than any professor of Education whilst earning my teaching certificate. I can't truthfully call it a degree because that implies the aforementioned professors gave me real direction on what an actual education should involve. I jumped through the hoops, was handed a piece of paper, and then taught as I thought best under what circumstances I faced. Believe me, anybody can become certified to teach (I may well be proof of that), much more so today than when I was in college in 1982. It is not an impressive accomplishment.

But that idea goes farther than what I intend to for today. What the late Dr. Mitchell (he passed in 2007) meant here was that (a) we should respect true teachers, folks actually trying to make our children better people and who, indeed, work along with us as parents and members of society towards that most important goal, as opposed to (b) public school teachers who, by and large, as agents of government, tend to work against worthwhile improvement in their charges. That's because they're interested in what the government thinks best rather than what actually is best.

This is a primary reason why as I age I become increasingly libertarian. Governments rarely care about what's best for your child; they care about keeping themselves in authority. They care about holding, and wielding, power. Our liberal friends seem to recognize that when it's Donald Trump yet can't see it in Joe Biden. Ditto, conversely, our conservative pals.

But once more I digress. Parents are by their nature (yes, I realize there are bad ones, and it is of course okay for society to get involved in those situations) more concerned with what's truly best for their children than public authorities. Government needs to get out of the way and let parents do what they do best: raise their kids well. That involves mom and dad actively, even almost exclusively, choosing who teaches their offspring and letting the true professional teach as they ought. It's a simple concept, and hardly radical. Yet that's also exactly why it's a threat to government schools.