It also earns dividends for parents who are able to shape their own children's intellectual and moral development and not turn that responsibility over to an agent of the state, who, no matter how good a teacher, will always be required to teach the state's values and the state's perspective on subjects from sex to history and biology. Children educated at home are some of the friendliest, most articulate and socially comfortable people I've met. They look you in the eye. They aren't robots, but neither are they freaks. A huge political battle is just beginning over school choice.
Most people think American public education was here at our nation's founding.
In fact, the early American schools were mostly religious, private, controlled by parents and in competition with each other. The objective was to educate students, not establish an education bureaucracy and careers for teachers. The public schools were started in order to mainstream immigrants, inculcate them with American values and erase cultural diversity for the sake of a united nation. Parents would again be given the option of deciding where their children should be educated and the financial resources to help make their choice a reality. Cal Thomas is a syndicated columnist.