Parents Are Idiots, or So Believes the State

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Thank goodness parents are idiots. Otherwise, at least half of the current tax-funded bozos – the so-called public servants whose sole mission is to supplant parental rights and decision-making – would be unemployed, taking their aggressive panhandling to the streets nonetheless. And, we can’t have that, can we?

Of course, not all parents are idiots. One special class of the omniscient exists; those parents employed by government or associated organizations (can you say teachers unions). These folks are never idiots since they drink from the fountain of enlightenment. The fountain whose source is the never-ending stream of tax dollars, and whose drain is the never-clogged pipeline of bloated salaries.

Parents are idiots. Yes, that is a harsh statement. However, from what I read – from what the state and its minions believe, it is absolutely true. Offensive, but true.

Alright, put up or shut up! Fair enough. A recently published study on public school choice looked at the schools parents chose when they were allowed to select between the various Milwaukee public schools. The study reports that many parents chose schools based on nonacademic reasons; parents chose schools for reasons other than the state’s definition of a quality program.

So there you have it, parents are idiots simply because they do not choose the state solution. Moms and dads failed the test of parenting as defined by the state. Remove the children and begin mandatory indoctrination, for parent and child alike.

This is by no means the first study to report such findings. In fact, this study is but one of many that defines the abilities of parents solely on their choosing, or not choosing, the state-defined correct answer.

Let’s take a different look at this logic: Consider the intelligence of leaders in the market place. For example: We know that many business are run by idiots. How do we know that? Well, we know for certain that many businesses do not use the government-favored solution for sending documents and packages.

That’s right. In case you were unaware of it, many businesses owners choose to bypass the US Postal Service when they need to send important, time-sensitive stuff in a cheap, competent manner. Amazing, isn’t it? These seemingly intelligent and successful folks actually forgo the government solution in favor of a free market one.

Our conclusion is obvious: Based on the logic applied to parents and school choice, these business owners must be idiots. In fact, they are idiots. Call in the bureaucrats to stop the madness.

Here is the rub for all systems of so-called choice under a government-funded – taxpayer-funded – system of education: Parental choice will always fail to meet the arbitrary standards and ends of the political effete … er, elite. No, wait, effete was correct.

This will be true whether the system is one which includes choice of schools within a school district, charter schools, or any of the assorted voucher programs or proposal. In all cases, parents will choose UPS and FedEx when the correct choice – in the eyes of the state – is USPS.

It’s a rainbow that many like to chase, looking for the pot of gold that is government-funded school choice. But, like any true rainbow, the end – the pot of gold – is over the next hill, just out of reach.

Choice cannot exist when the ends are politically defined. And, no market can exist where goods must conform to government standards.

Ardent voucher advocates believe that parents will spend government funds in a manner that provides the best education for their children. Setting aside for the moment the fact that vouchers are theft and can never be associated with a free market solution, it is true that parents will choose what is best for their children. Nevertheless, what is best is never the ends deified by the state; politically-derived curriculum, tests, and standards.

Just as in Milwaukee, parents will opt for something else; something better. And, with each parental choice, government, the teachers unions, and many so-called advocates of school choice, will begin to build a case against the abilities of parents to choose what is best for their children.

Regulation upon regulation will appear. The promised land of innovation and entrepreneurship associated with tax-funded school choice will never be reached. Private suppliers of education will be forced to conform to the ends defined by the blobs that suffocate DC and every state capital. And, these ends will never be the ends desired by parents.

The assumed array of educational programs will begin to look like shelves of generic food; cans with white wrappers that read “Education. Caution: contains state indoctrination.” The consumers – the parents and students – will not be sovereign under this system. No, only the state will have control.

You can paint the pig – government-run education – and dress it up as choice, but it will be the same pig nonetheless.

Advocate for vouchers and know for a fact that the end result is more studies claiming that you are an idiot. Advocate for the end of tax-supported, government-run schools and the only thing that you have to fear is the hobo village of educrats searching for handouts.

Not too worry, they are neither too bright nor too ambitious.

November 3, 2007