“It seems like a no-brainer. Privatizing schools will make things better. If we scrap the whole K-12 public school thing, and reduce the taxes so that people can educate their kids in private schools, it would be better. It reminds me of the health care system: Education too has a halo for leftists which does not allow them to see it as a business with competition being the best motivator.
In Indian cities, there is a government school system: but it is very poorly run, and hence used by only those who absolutely cannot afford to pay any tuition whatsoever. So, the private schools run the show: their tuitions range from cheap to expensive and people can get the kind of education they want when they're prepared to pay the price.
In USA, I wonder why the most developed country in the world squeezes tax out of its people to force them to accept sub-standard education. I literally start fuming when someone suggests paying public school teachers more. When a tissue in the body turns into gangrene, we need to cut it off, not provide it more nutrients.”

Hope this makes it clear.

Ed Balls ('Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families') recently suggested jail time for parents trying to get round the government rationing system. All of this is a good example of the main principle in the Road to Serfdom. Collectivist control begets more collectivist control.

Signed
a product of the UK comprehensive school system.

I s'pose you'll come up with a list of 'crazy' laws such as “it's illegal to peel an orange in a hotel in California”.

The difference between theory and reality is that in theory that’s true. In reality it's total BS. Children in poor areas are the ones harmed the most by the government (near) monopoly on schooling – and they are harmed very badly.

Of course children are constrained by their parents. Alert the media, life isn't fair! The problem with your position is government schools have done an exceptional job increasing the unfairness. You support a system of schooling that has unquestionably failed many millions of children because a small minority of parents might choose poorly for their kids. That may make sense to you, but I see it as extremely cruel.

In fairness, some of the things you’ve suggested would be improvements over the present situation. Unfortunately they don’t address the underlying problem of having somebody beside parents in control. If vouchers etc. can serve as a way to transition to the total separation of school and state we so desperately need, then they are a wonderful thing.

The price of private schools is artificially higher because the parents are forced to pay taxes to support the public schools AND private school tuition. Weren't you the one who was so interested in barriers to entry? Well, making education more expensive with this additional tax is a barrier.

The Soviet Union had an excellent publicly provided education system and we were still desperately poor. By comparison, the public education system in the United States is a sad joke. There is a correlation between prosperity and an educated population, but that in no way proves or even suggests that the education must be funded publicly or administered by the central authority.

You seem to contradict yourself. I'm assuming you support a publicly funded school system because the poor won't be able to afford basic education for their children without public funds. Yet, you then ask why these same poor aren't all sending their kids to private school. The answer to your question is that not enough people can afford private school and not all public schools are trash.

Public funding shouldn't compell students to attend the school assigned by the central authority. Why shouldn't students and parents be able to choose among publicly funded schools?

I don't think that's the case in most states. For example, Chapter 41 of the Texas Education Code requires that funds from school districts with the highest property values be reallocated to lower property wealth districts. Proposition 13 in California resulted in the governor and the state legislature determining how education funds are distributed in that state. The Florida Legislature long ago enacted the Florida Education Finance Program which equlaizes funding per student across the state, with adjustments for local economic factors (low income urban districts actually get more funds per student, not less).

Where unequal funding for education has persisted, the courts have taken strong steps to remove that inequality.

How is that, Joshua?

“Those barriers to entry were the barriers that kept slavery in existence”

I don't understand this. It was not the free market but rather laws which prevented most African-American children from being educated prior to the Civil War. In fact, about 10% of the children of slaves were receiving education from private but illegal schools.

Which countries are those, geckonomist?

Here in the U.S., the newspapers with the largest daily circulation are the Wall Street Journal, the USA Today, and the New York Times.

The handful of widely read supermarket tabloids are only published weekly, of course. It's not difficult to compare the number of times the Wall Street Journal is read per week (approx. 10.5 million) with the number of times the National Enquirer is read per week (approx 2.8 million).