Education

Vouchers and Visions of Freedom: A Fictional History

by Richard M. Ebeling September 1, 2001

One hundred and fifty years ago, in 2009, shortly after the inauguration of Hillary Clinton as the first woman president of the United States, the Democrats and Republicans in Congress reached a consensus concerning the moral decay of American society. Corruption and unethical behavior in both private and public ...

Parent Power: Why National Standards Won’t Improve Education

by Sheldon Richman April 1, 2001

Parent Power: Why National Standards Won’t Improve Education

Sell the Schools

by Sheldon Richman April 1, 2001

In the state of Arkansas, it’s 1925 again. That was the year of the famous Scopes “monkey” trial in Tennessee. Now a member of the Arkansas House of Representatives has introduced a bill in essence prohibiting the public schools from using textbooks that say Darwin’s theory of evolution is ...

Free Market Education Stops School Violence

by Jacob G. Hornberger March 1, 2001

In case you were wondering where they stood on the issue, the U.S. House of Representatives has issued a formal condemnation of the shooting at Santana High School near San Diego. The vote was unanimous. (Whew!) The House proclamation also "encourages the people of the United States to engage in a ...

What Happened to the Conservatives?

by Sheldon Richman March 1, 2001

Are conservatives so desperate to have a Republican in the White House that they are ready to toss their principles overboard and become boosters for whatever President George W. Bush hands them? It seems so. Mr. Bush’s two earliest initiatives — education and aid to faith-based organizations — should have ...

Vouchers Are Just Another Welfare Scheme

by Jacob G. Hornberger October 1, 2000

If proponents of school vouchers get their way, Americans might well be permanently saddled with one of the most massive government welfare programs in history. What began many years ago as a modest proposal to help those on the lowest rungs of the economic ladder with their ...

The Black Hole of Higher Education

by George Leef August 1, 2000

ONE OF THE GREAT growth industries in America in the second half of the 20th century was higher education. Prior to World War II, there were only 1.5 million students enrolled in some 1,700 colleges and universities. Spending per student was about $450. By the late 1990s, the student population had grown to 14.4 million ...

Public Schooling: Education or Indoctrination?

by Jacob G. Hornberger June 1, 2000

In her critique of libertarian opposition to government (public) schooling, public-schoolteacher Angela Harding fails to answer some important questions. ("Libertarians Are Forever Exposing Their Radicalism," June 16) If public schooling is the tremendous success she claims it is, and if the system enjoys such widespread support among the citizenry, ...

Education and the Presidential Race

by Sheldon Richman June 1, 2000

THE REPUBLICANS, as the old saying goes, never miss an opportunity to miss an opportunity. Gov. George W. Bush demonstrated that truism when he clinched the presidential nomination and told the nation that education would be at the center of his campaign. Over and over he has said that a Bush presidency would “reform education” and make sure every ...

Children are Property of the State

by Jacob G. Hornberger April 1, 2000

Americans everywhere were outraged at the Cuban diplomat's remark that Elian Gonzales is the property of the Cuban state. If only their outrage extended to their own homeland! For more than 100 years, Americans have lived under a system of state schooling or, as it is commonly termed, public schooling. Under ...

What is a Conservative?

by Jacob G. Hornberger April 1, 2000

The race for the Republican presidential nomination reflected the extent to which conservatives have abandoned their own principles. The two leading Republican contenders, George W. Bush and John McCain, waged a fierce fight over who is the true conservative and the real government reformer. But what does conservatism have to ...

Monopoly, Competition, and Educational Freedom

by Jacob G. Hornberger March 1, 2000

Unfortunately, while many scholars understand the nature and benefits of the free market in general, they seem to lack a firm appreciation of pure free-market principles in the area of education. An example was a recent speech entitled "Competition" that was delivered to the conservative Heritage Foundation by Gary S. ...