Freedom of the Press, Speech and Liberty

Independence Day, for me, is symbolic of the ability to freely express opinions; the hallmark of a free society. It was Thomas Jefferson who wrote, in 1791, that, “Government being founded on opinion, the opinion of the public, even when it is wrong, ought to be respected to a certain degree.” In the United States, […]

Charter Schools a Setback, Despite Success

Education in the United States can seem a bit bewildering at times. Confronted with the undeniably poor performance of public schools, in the 1990s, an alternative was devised that gave greater freedom to individual teachers and schools while not admitting fully that the free-market option — private schools — are in fact the only viable […]

Fire Bad Teachers!

Unions and regulations protect teachers who don’t do well, to the detriment of their students.

Conservatives for Freer Schools

A novel idea from British Conservatives: allow schools to set their own standards. Tory Politico reports that the party intends to put an end to government interference with so-called A Level certificates: the internationally-recognized standard for entry into British universities. The A Level’s reputation has been on the decline in recent years, leaving the prestige […]

Freeing Children From Government Schools

In spite of ever rising costs and increasingly disappointing results, the government monopoly on education is hardly ever called into question. Education, defenders of the system argue, is too important to leave to the free market. The arguments put forward by those in favor of a state-run system typically boil down to two misleading claims. […]

The Enforcement of Education

In many developed nations, education is one of the greatest expenses of government. In Great Britain, for instance, about £88 billion was spent on education last year, ammounting to 17 percent of the kingdom’s total budget. In the United States, where education is partly privatized, the federal government still intends to invest over $46 billion […]