The public school system in America has become a dismal failure. But education in many other times and cultures has been quite successful. The ancient Greeks, whose civilization was at its height around 500 B.C., founded Western civilization as we know it. The Athenian Greeks invented or perfected logic, drama, science, philosophy, astronomy, mathematics, literature, and much more. Yet ancient Greece had no compulsory schools.
Other than requiring two years of military training for young men that began at age eighteen, Athens let parents educate their children as they saw fit. Parents either taught their children at home or sent them to voluntary schools where teachers and philosophers like Socrates, Plato, and Aristotle gave lectures to all who wanted to learn. These great teacher-philosophers did not need a license to teach, nor did they have tenure.
The ancient Athenians had a free-market education system. The thought of compulsory, state-run schools and compulsory licensing would have been repulsive to them. The Athenians respected a parents' natural right to direct the education of their children.
In contrast, Sparta, Athens's mortal enemy, created the first truly state-run, compulsory education system on record. Individual Spartans lived and died for the state, and had to serve the state from birth until sixty years of age. Their society was a brutal military dictatorship in which male children literally belonged to the city, not to their parents.
The Spartan military government took boys from their homes and parents at the age of seven and forced them to live in military-style barracks for the rest of their lives. Spartan men were life-long soldiers whose highest duty was to obey the commands of their leaders.
It is no coincidence that Sparta had compulsory, state-run education. If a society believes that children belong not to parents, but to the state, then the state must control children's education by compulsion.
Are our public schools any different than the brutal Spartan society in the way they treat parents and children? Today, school compulsory-attendance laws force parents to hand over their children to government employees called teachers for eight to twelve years.
In effect, our local and state governments claim that they, like the Spartans, own our children's minds and bodies for twelve years. Parents who refuse to hand over their children to the public schools can be and have been locked in jail for disobeying the compulsory-attendance laws.
In this respect, our public schools today are just as brutal as the Spartans. The difference is only in degree. Where the Spartans stole children from their parents to serve a lifetime in their military, our local governments create laws that let them, in effect, legally kidnap our children to serve twelve years in their education boot camps called public schools. The brutality of the principal is the same. Like the Spartans, our public-school officials think they own our children, and have contempt for parents' rights.
Joel Turtel is an education policy analyst, and author of "Public Schools, Public Menace: How Public Schools Lie To Parents and Betray Our Children." Contact Information: Website: http://www.mykidsdeservebetter.com, Email: http://www.mykidsdeservebetter.com, Phone: 718-447-7348. Article Copyrighted ? 2005 by Joel Turtel. NOTE: You may post this Article on an Ezine, newsletter, or other website only if you include Joel Turtel's complete contact information, and set up a hyperlink to Joel Turtel's email address and website URL, http://www.mykidsdeservebetter.com
green cleaning service Park Ridge ..Most of us recognize the continuing escalation of violence around... Read More
Do any other reality TV junkies remember a show on... Read More
Q: Whenever we tell my daughter "no," she just bugs... Read More
Because most teens have not had the experience of getting... Read More
Successful parents have learned to be both firm and kind... Read More
It's hard to explain to the uninitiated the changes that... Read More
The following spelling games can be used by parents to... Read More
1. Make stronger connections among individuals and, therefore, creates a... Read More
In the last few years, parents started getting more and... Read More
You are at the grocery store with your daughter and... Read More
So you want to be a mum? Every time you... Read More
If your parenting methods include abuse of any kind; physical,... Read More
Discipline is a necessary part of parenting yet it makes... Read More
To the untrained eye, it might look like a piece... Read More
At age seven months in the womb, humans begin language... Read More
Winifred or Willow? Thomas or Troy? The name you choose... Read More
Hey Parents! I hate to tell you, but there is... Read More
I love Google and Yahoo. With Google and Yahoo I... Read More
1. They can make mistakes under your guidance2. They will... Read More
Before my daughter was born my house was... Read More
Many research studies have shown the overall effectiveness of stimulant... Read More
Seven-year old Michael was on a school trip to a... Read More
You have a chore to do around the house, and... Read More
A parent writes in, ``We are having a hard time... Read More
Self esteem in an important quality for all children to... Read More
cleaning help near Bannockburn ..How do we deal with our seriously distressed children and... Read More
Researchers have estimated that 25-35% of children in the United... Read More
Levels of SafetyBy teaching our children there are different levels... Read More
Most of the ADHD kids that are seen in a... Read More
When I was pregnant, we knew that we had some... Read More
Vinegar or honey, what do kids really want? "Toys, candy,... Read More
What would it be like to have a clone? What... Read More
Q. We just got our daughter's progress report, and it... Read More
Winnie the Pooh is the classic picture of Inattentive ADHD.... Read More
Have you made your usual New Year resolutions? You know... Read More
Are you glad for the chance to put your child... Read More
Paula's last child had just gone off to college and... Read More
School authorities continually claim that they want more parent cooperation... Read More
What's new and effective in the treatment of Attention problems?... Read More
Though you can cover even very long distances by car... Read More
Something eerily familiar happened in KwaZulu-Natal's Hluhluwe-Umfolozi Park in Africa... Read More
As part of the whole-language (or "balanced") reading-instruction philosophy, many... Read More
How in the world do you get your child to... Read More
Public education in the United States has never been equal... Read More
Many people consider plush toys great for children. They say... Read More
Everyone knows that exercise is good for your health. Exercising... Read More
It was blisteringly hot last Saturday. As I took that... Read More
Once upon a time, I thought I had it all.... Read More
Late vs. Too LateEvery now and then, I'll hear a... Read More
MYTH: All teens have to rebel, and the teen years... Read More
Parenting |