Educating The Children

[Makalakumu]

That's because Baltimore is run by corrupt Democrats.

Um, no. The problems in the school system run deeper then party. They harken back to the very inception of modern schooling. What you see now is exactly what the model was designed to do.

 

[Thesemindz]

You make some interesting points, but one thing that I'd like to clarify, one thing that I'm reading in your words, is that basically you are willing to deconstruct nearly every social institution we currently have in place in order to bring about a stateless society. I think there is an element of throwing the "baby out with the bathwater" when it comes to education, however.

That's entirely possible. Life in a voluntary might be worse than our lives under that state are. I don't believe that would actually be the case, but I'm willing to accept the idea at least for the purposes of argumentation. However, that is a sacrifice I am willing to make in order to live in a voluntary society. Why don't we start with non violence, and work our way towards a better society from there, instead of starting with violent coercion and trying to justify it by the results?

You'll get no argument from me in regards to the effects of fiat currency on our society. I don't think that very many people understand just how devastating that has been upon our collective standard of living. Therefore, you are correct to point out that any modern analogue really won't be perfectly predictive of what could happen in a stateless society. Even the examples that you provided, such as reading rates, which occurred in the presence of a state.

Many people don't even know what fiat currency is, which is sad, because if you do any research at all into economics and money, fiat currency comes up after about five minutes.

For me, this debate, is really about reforming the monetary system. We are simply unable to get anywhere positive under the current conditions and that needs to change before any other plan can be conceived. Once there, I think we can start see where a collective voluntary system may actually support education on a mass scale.

Agreed.

For example, if our society does away with taxes and spends money into existence with government expenditures, education could rightly be considered a worthy expense that people could democratically agree upon. In this case, schools would become the recipients of state funding which would filter down into society as a whole AND give everyone an opportunity for a hand up.

Democracy still forces the minority to surrender to the tyranny of the majority. Unless there is universal consent to the state action, you will have to compel some people through force, and if there is, then you don't need a state.

Of course, the argument could be made that this is another form of taking, but at least it's not being done under the threat of force. It's more like coercive-lite.

Compromise?

Not yet, but we're getting there.

Instead of requiring a state and trying to get everyone to "democratically agree," why don't we just offer services on the open market and let people vote with their dollars?

Free market schools aren't only funded by tuition dollars by the way. Donations from alumni, business sponsorships, and related service sales could also fund private education systems.

For instance, students could receive reduced tuition rates in return for a promise to donate a set amount every year for twenty years following their graduation. Or businesses could choose to sponsor schools in return for offering their products in the schools or just to increase their brand recognition in the community. Why do businesses put their name on baseball stadiums? Many businesses might also choose to sponsor the education of individual students in return for contracts to work for the company for a set amount of time after they graduate, in fact, this is a common practice today. Schools could also offer their services to the community as a way to fund their activities, much the same way many trade schools do already. My wife is in a cosmetology school which gives reduced rate services to the community. By doing so, they have a second revenue stream, as well as a constant flow of people for the students to practice on.

Those are just a few examples of how schools could be funded. Certainly, it is also possible that people could decide to work together and pool their resources. Over time, the business models which succeeded would last, and those which did not would adapt. In the presence of the state, this evolution is retarded because failed businesses have access to a stream of revenue that they don't have to compete for, but has simply been seized from the people through force. In the presence of this destructive influence, failed business models, such as those pursued by our airlines, automakers, and investment banks, flourish.


-Rob

 

[celtic_crippler]

There are no negative results from a widely educated population; only benefits.

Which again, makes one wonder why we spend Trillions to reward failure instead of promoting the education of our society.

"If a nation expects to be ignorant and free, in a state of civilization, it expects what never was and never will be."
--Thomas Jefferson to C. Yancey, 1816.

I look to the diffusion of light and education as the resource most to be relied on for ameliorating the conditions, promoting the virtue and advancing the happiness of man.
--Thomas Jefferson to Cornelius Camden Blatchly, 1822.

It is an axiom in my mind that our liberty can never be safe but in the hands of the people themselves, and that, too, of the people with a certain degree of education. This is the business of the state to effect, and on a general plan.
--Thomas Jefferson to George Washington, 1786.