This experience solidified my interest in freedom and the Constitution rather than indoctrination into collectivist idealism. The same was true for my friend at the time, who is now the Editor of the Independent newsletter at the institute of the same name.

I continued to educate myself, in spite of my lack of funds for formal education and my need to work full time since I was 14. I have studied on my own all of my life and received formal education only in electronics, chemistry, and computer science. My education in philosophy, economics, and physics has been entirely auto-didactic.

I sought out people who knew more than myself and were willing to answer questions and discuss various subjects with me and was blessed with their presence and knowledge as a result of my seeking them out.

There is hope and possibility once you leave the system, but you must seek to find.

One problem the public school system has in its favor these days is the amount of time parents have available to teach their kids. Two parent homes were beginning to dissolve in the ’70s as well as two parent homes with only one working parent. This is a direct result of the ending of Bretton-Woods and the rapid inflation that began with that move by the powers-that-be of the time.

Now, with the family unit struggling more and more to make ends meet, there is less time to devote to the education of our own children, and less money available to select private education. The same economic forces that cause both parents to work also force the private schools to charge high rates to make their ends meet.

We are being driven into servitude and we are afraid and unmotivated in general to leave the herd.

My 3rd child was taken out of school in the 5th grade when his private school got an evil bureaucrat instead of a teacher.

He ran his own business from about the age of 14 till early 30s and had about 20 skilled trades by the age of 20.

He was a better worker than a business man, so went to work at a copper mine and started as a mid level mechanic at more than twice the pay of most people in our community.

It was I believe Robert LeFevre who accurately referred to the mandatory state so-called “education” institutions as “gun-run schools”. Forcing children to attend school should be recognized as a form of child abuse. I think the central fallacy emerges when one recognizes that in reality education is an individual and voluntary pursuit. It is impossible to force someone to learn a subject that they are not curious about nor interested in. Children are endowed by nature with a healthy and generous curiosity. In attempting to force them to learn, the exact opposite occurs: curiosity is destroyed and rebellion is incited. State schools have become dangerous places.

As the author makes clear, what occurs in gun-run, non-market based schools is not education but indoctrination. I don’t think the bureaucrats can even make this distinction. “I pledge allegiance to the flag…”

Here in California, the state school system is rapidly crumbling. It’s clear that throwing more money to bureaucratic management doesn’t solve any problems but rather makes it worse. Schools should be recognized as a service to make obtaining an education easier. This can only be achieved in the voluntary profit-seeking market place.