My understanding of the law is that there is a requirement for the children to be in school, not just a public school. If this was not so, there would not be any alternative schools. I **freely** chose to enroll my children in public schools. I could just as well have **freely** chosen to enroll them in religious, charter, or other private choices, or home schooled them.
I don’t understand why you refer to public schools as a Prussian model when the level of discipline is often much higher in a private setting (ever been to a Catholic school?). As I stated earlier, you can choose either a public school or a private school, the government coercion is for schooling, not just public schools.
Your big point is that the government institutional schooling may be entirely INEFFECTIVE. It may not just as well. This statement (may be INEFFECTIVE - you can drive a Mack truck through the word “may”) is also true of any alternative, be it private or home schooling.
Again, what’s your point? Because public schooling MAY be ineffective, just trash it? Since private schooling MAY be ineffective as well, let’s just trash it, too. We are then left with home schooling. I will tell you right now that I did not have the time, inclination, or training to serve as my kid’s sole schooling. In my personal case I can tell you that our local public schools (along with our parental involvement, of course) did a very good job of educting my children. The results (3 bachelor’s degrees, and gainful employment) seem to bear that out.
Other parents are not able to ransom their children from the government's godless and socialist-entitlement institutional schools. These children are under police threat to attend. If they don't police and court action will be taken against the parents and child. It is sad, but these children **will** learn to think and reason godlessly. They must just to cooperate in the godless classroom. How could it be otherwise?
Re: Charters
There are no private or government anointed and godless charter schools in many counties. Mine is one. Since government institutional schooling is a price-fixed cartel that is giving its service away for tuition-free, it is unlikely that a private school will be able to compete here.
Re: Prussian model
Please educate yourself on the origins of compulsory government schooling. John Gatto is a good place to start. It is impossible for me, in this type of forum to take responsibility for your education. You must do this yourself.
Re: Ineffective government institutional schooling
No studies have been done to test the effectiveness, therefore, it is UNKNOWN if government schools are effective or not. We are spending up to $30,000/child/year on a program that has never been proven to be effective or not.
My point is that it is UNKNOWN if all the money spent on government institutional schooling is effective. No one knows where the child is acquiring his knowledge ( home or institutional school) and who is doing the real teaching ( parents, paid or unpaid tutors, study clubs as is common among Asians, or the child himself doing home assignments). Without studying this issue who knows? Answer: No one!
Finally.....If schools can't teach children who have crappy parents then why do we assume they are teaching kids with great parents? Without studies to show where and who is teaching the child it is UNKNOWN how any child is learning anything.
But...we DO know that government schools are doing a very poor job with kids from homes that are less than ideal homes. That is well documented.
Re: Your kids
It's impossible to do double blind educational studies on kids. So....We can't know how your or my kids would have done in different setting.
Multiple degrees is not necessarily a measure of success for many Americans. It may be to a secularist. How nice for the secularists that the government establishes their non-neutral religious worldview in its indoctrination camps.
Well.....My homeschooled kids did not attend the godless government schools are were not forced to think and reason godlessly. My husband and I were lucky enough to be able to ransom them from the government's non-neutral religious content and non-neutral religious consequences. Those who can't will be subject to the government's non-neutral religious worldview. All married within our religious tradition to wonderful spouses and are raising their children in this tradition.
All three homeschoolers finished Calculus 3 and all college general courses by the age of 15. Two had B.S. degrees in mathematics by the age of 18. One earned a masters in math by the age of 20. The youngest is now working on a second degree in mechanical engineering and is close to finishing. The oldest has a masters in accounting. He was a internationally and nationally ranked athlete and traveled the world representing the U.S. All three speak two languages.