ON EDUCATION

“I think the [California] state court is looking at the state Constitution upside down. The court finds no constitutional right to home school one’s children. But in a free country, people are free to do anything not expressly prohibited by law. If the Constitution is silent about home schooling, then the right is reserved to the people. That’s how the Framers of the U.S. Constitution said things are supposed to work. Last week, the appellate court surprised everyone by agreeing to rehear the case. The San Francisco Chronicle reports that the judges ‘hinted at a re-evaluation of its entire Feb. 28 ruling by inviting written arguments from state and local education officials and teachers’ unions’. On top of that, state Schools Superintendent Jack O’Connell says he thinks home schooling is legal and favors choice in education. That’s reasonable news. But why is education the business of government? It’s taken for granted that the state is every child’s ultimate parent, but there’s no justification for that in a free society. Parents may not be perfect—some are pretty bad—but a cold, faceless bureaucracy is no better.” —John Stossel