Public Education
Public education is amazing.
I'm told it's the most important thing in society.
That's why I have to pay for it whether I use it or not.
Then I homeschool my kids, so I get to pay for it again.
The public school family gets teachers, buildings, buses, laptops, sports, breakfast, lunch, summer food programs, counselors, administrators, and administrators for the administrators.
The homeschool family gets a tax bill.
And if you ask for some of the money allocated for your own child, everyone suddenly becomes a fiscal conservative.
"No, no, no. The funding belongs to the system."
Interesting.
Because every time the system has a problem, the solution is never less system.
It's always more system.
Low test scores?
More funding.
Behavior problems?
More funding.
Poor attendance?
More funding.
Declining enrollment?
Believe it or not, more funding.
At this point I'm convinced public education operates like a steam locomotive.
No matter what happens, the answer is apparently more coal.
The food programs are my favorite.
The country has a childhood obesity rate several times higher than its underweight rate.
Yet every discussion starts with:
"What if a child gets hungry?"
Brother, have you seen America?
The national emergency is not that we're running out of calories.
The average citizen is carrying three winters of emergency rations at all times.
Then we get to SNAP.
People say SNAP is for poor people.
Sure.
And Visa is for helping merchants.
The poor family buys the food.
The grocery store gets paid.
The manufacturer gets paid.
The distributor gets paid.
The trucking company gets paid.
The beverage company gets paid.
The snack company gets paid.
The poor person is the mascot.
Everyone else is the business model.
Then there's the legal side.
The government will educate every child the district is required to serve.
The government will feed them.
Transport them.
Give them a Chromebook.
Provide counselors.
Provide athletics.
Provide administrators to administer the administrators.
But homeschool your own child and suddenly you're an eccentric frontier woodsman trying to survive on squirrel pelts and McGuffey Readers.
The entire thing feels like a loyalty program.
Join Team Government and receive points redeemable for services.
Raise and educate your own children and discover the exciting rewards tier known as Full Price.
The homeschool parent eventually realizes an uncomfortable truth:
The government doesn't hate homeschooling.
That would require noticing you exist.
You're just the guy paying admission to the amusement park while standing outside the fence.