Seeing leftists violently advocate for more government spending in education is a common sight in the news. Though sane people disagree with the violence, not much is said in disagreeing with the Left’s goals.
This is a mistake.
The entire advocacy of the leftists in education should be rejected. And it must be countered with praise for the privatization of government run schools. As Andrew Bernstein writes, in The Objective Standard:
“A private school cannot force customers to purchase its product, nor can it compel anyone to finance its existence, nor can it regulate or curtail the activities of its competitors. Because private schools are legally forbidden to use force, their existence and programs entail no violation of rights. Having to earn their customers and money, private schools possess strong economic incentive to provide excellent educational services. If they want to stay in business and flourish, they must make money by satisfying the educational requirements of students and their families; if they fail to do so, they face bankruptcy.”
Entrepreneurs who take over the schools will compete to make their educational institution the best there is, and the most affordable it can be, so they can make a well-earned profit. The private sector rewards effectiveness. Bureaucracy stifles it.
Privatizing government run schools will lessen the government’s wasteful spending and will lead to a better educational system by turning over these ineffective government run institutions to the private sector. And most of all it will stop the rights-destroying practice of forcing people to fund ineffective institutions against their will.
As Craig Biddle, the editor of The Objective Standard, writes:
“Because an individual’s judgment is his basic means of living, physical force, to the extent that it is used against him, causes him to lead a less than human life… If human beings are to act on their rational judgment, they must be free to act on it. Capitalism is the social system that recognizes this fact and upholds the principle of individual rights.”
If we truly want to see an educational system that respects the rational faculty of Filipinos to chart their own destiny, the privatization of government schools must begin.
This article first appeared in Kuro-Kuro.
This is Joshua Speaking 