Free The School Revolution by Ron Paul Page B

They don’t know much about the history of Western civilization or even the history of the United States. They have some vague understanding of economics, but they have never taken an economics course that in any way shaped their thinking. In other words, by the time the child is twelve or thirteen years old, his parents are ready to fully hand him over to specialistsin education. What they fail to recognize is that far better specialists in education have made available on the Internet teaching materials that students can use to teach themselves, and this material is either free or inexpensive. Of course, parents need to teach the children the self-discipline and responsibility to use those materials. This might not be possible in some cases, but in others,it will.
    The fundamental principle here is moral and legal. The fundamental principle is that the parents are responsible for their children, and that they have an obligation to search for specific educational programs that fit the needs of their families. They must make a determination as to which of the programs is best for their children. Sometimes the differences among children suggestthat there must be different curriculum materials and educational programs for each child. One size does not fit all. Even within a household, there are sufficient variations in children’s capacities and interests that parents must select a wide variety of educational materials. Obviously, I am talking about homeschooling. If the parent wants to pull his children out of the local public school,and he does not adopt homeschooling, then he has to pay for an alternative school. The school probably has athletic fields, buildings, teachers, air-conditioning, administration, and all the other institutional arrangements common to classroom-based education. The private school is an expensive version of the “free” public school, although with variations in terms of educational content. Buta school like this must cater to a large number of students, which raises the traditional problem of teachers catering to the lowest common denominator. Also, parents find that they cannot afford private education. They also find that their children may not benefit from this or that course, or this or that curriculum program, any more than they would or wouldn’t at a public school.
    If parents understood that they are responsible for their children’s education in the same way that they are responsible for their feeding, housing, and clothing, we would see far more attention given to the content and structure of educational programs. Parents would seek out the best programs they could afford. They would sacrifice for the sake of their children’s education in the same way that theysacrifice for their feeding, housing, and clothing.
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    In any call to reform the existing educational system, the cost factor should be front and center. To talk about the need for reform without talking about the cost of reform is meaningless and unrealistic. Libertarians focus on economic costs. When these costs begin to fall, institutional reformsbecome not merely possible but inevitable. Price competition works its magic. These words change everything, one family at a time: “I can get it for you cheaper, and better.”
    In any institution there must always be someone who has the final authority to determine the operation of the organization. Money does not come with no strings attached. There are always strings attached.If you follow the money long enough, you find somebody holding a hammer. You find somebody who has the power to say yea or nay to any proposed change in the system. He who pays the piper calls the tune.
    With the decline in the cost of homeschooling to levels undreamed of as recently as twenty years ago—with respect to the cost of materials, the campus, and the instructors—parents todayare in a position to exercise authority over the content and structure of their children’s education.