Part of the problem is that, as in so many other areas of life, the cost of irresponsibility has been shifted to the taxpayer.
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Exactly! Government education is welfare!
What’s next? Compulsory attendance grocery stores because some parents don’t or can’t feed their kids? Why not compulsory occupancy of cement block government apartment housing because some parents can’t and won’t properly house their kids. Should we insist on government clothing because parents of some kids can’t or won’t buy clothes.
Those are good examples, but I was thinking of the “cost” of not having an education. A person who can’t or won’t support himself is supported by the taxpayers. This gives people the justification (with some logic) to insist that the government has the responsibility to force education on everyone.
In many different ways, taxpayer-funded “services” are used as an excuse to control people. The conservative approach would be to eliminate the services and let people do for themselves or appeal to voluntary charities.