Seven Ways You Will Benefit from Separation
When government involvement with
education is ended, we can prudently predict at least seven changes in
America's schooling systems:
- Your children will be safer. One of the greatest fears parents have
today is their children will be attacked at school. Independent schools
don't tolerate violence because parents rarely voluntarily send their
children into unsafe situations. Schools that are unsafe will lose
customers and either end the danger or go out of business.
- Your children will get the attention they deserve. Many schools will
be student-scaled and have only 50 to 300 children. Teachers will know each
other and all the students, eliminating layers of bureaucracy and allowing
more flexibility to meet individual needs. The tendency to child-scaled
schools is observable today: parent-funded schools average 200/school,
whereas tax-funded schools average 530. Also, one-room schools will return
because they were far better than the centralizers admitted.
- You'll be able to choose the type of school
that's right for your child.
The diversity of American parents will be reflected in schools just as it
is in restaurants, magazines, and churches. This variety will mean that
most parents will have the choice of different teaching methods
(Montessori, Waldorf, Traditional, Modern, etc.), different religious
orientations, and even different ethnicities for families who wish to
preserve their heritage (Amish, Hasidic Jews, Mexican Americans, African
Americans, etc.). The number of schools in the U.S. can grow from 110,000
to 400,000 within a year of Separation. In addition to immense variety, in
urban areas several schools will be within walking or easy commuting
- You and teachers will work as a team. Today's tax-funded schools
decry the lack of parental support, but what many educators want is a servile
parent who brings cupcakes, limits the children's TV time, and votes for
all school-tax increases. With Separation, parents will be able to choose
schools that reflect their values. In order to attract customers, each
school will hire teachers who hold those same values. Parents will again
support teachers because they'll know that the teachers are not trying to
undermine the family's worldview.
- Your state and local taxes will be cut by 50%. Most tax-funded
schools today cost $4000-$7000/pupil/year (some eastern states are $10,000).
The change to a free market will reduce costs 50 to 60 percent. Appropriate use
of technology may reduce costs another 10 to 20 percent. The concept of
blending campus-, cooperative-, home-, and self-schooling has the potential
of further reducing costs while increasing quality and satisfaction. As a
result of these predictable changes, many high-quality schools, especially
in urban areas, will be available for $1000-$2000 per year.
- Teachers can concentrate on children, not bureaucratic rules.
Principals, business people, and teachers who share worldview and education
philosophy will start schools by renting space in formerly tax-funded
school buildings. Like physicians and other professionals, they'll hire
assistants and business managers, not superintendents. Private teacher
credentialling services will prevail, like those for Montessori and Waldorf
today. Private school accreditation services, such as A.C.S.I, will expand
to help assure parents that schools are meeting their stated objectives.
- You will live in a society where the poor are better educated.
Private scholarships will expand to $20 billion per year to make sure that
children in low-income families have access to better schools than today's. This
is a prudent expectation, as Americans donate over $30 billion per year now to
colleges, and that is before the $300 billion tax cut resulting from
This article is copyrighted by The Education Liberator, the monthly
publication of the Separation of School & State Alliance. Permission is
granted to freely distribute this article as long as this copyright notice is
included in its entirety. The Separation Alliance can be reached online via
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or conventional mail (1071 N. Fulton Ave., Fresno, CA 93728).