Separate School From State
19 July 2006
The Editor, USA Today
To the Editor:
To improve schooling you say that "Identifying true success means searching for schools that outperform their peers" ("Real estate vs. real education," July 19). This approach is all wrong.
Suppose government owned and operated most newspapers and magazines. Would you be confident that "searching for publications that outperform their peers" is the best way to assure truthful and relevant press coverage? Surely not. You understand that government-run news outlets inevitably are infected by politics and are too protected from competition to respond positively to consumers. So apply the same understanding to government schools - which inevitably are infected by politics and too protected from competition to respond positively to students.
Schools will never achieve their full potential until they are separated from the state.
Sincerely,
Donald J. Boudreaux
Chairman, Department of Economics
George Mason University
The Editor, USA Today
To the Editor:
To improve schooling you say that "Identifying true success means searching for schools that outperform their peers" ("Real estate vs. real education," July 19). This approach is all wrong.
Suppose government owned and operated most newspapers and magazines. Would you be confident that "searching for publications that outperform their peers" is the best way to assure truthful and relevant press coverage? Surely not. You understand that government-run news outlets inevitably are infected by politics and are too protected from competition to respond positively to consumers. So apply the same understanding to government schools - which inevitably are infected by politics and too protected from competition to respond positively to students.
Schools will never achieve their full potential until they are separated from the state.
Sincerely,
Donald J. Boudreaux
Chairman, Department of Economics
George Mason University
Posted by Don Boudreaux on
Thursday April 19, 2007 at 8:17pm