Ron Paul Podcast: Take Back Our Schools

Ron Paul is the author of a new book on education, “The School Revolution: A New Answer for Our Broken Education System.” In this week’s podcast, we talk about why education is too important to leave to the government.

What follows are highlights from our conversation.

Goyette: It’s time, actually long past time, Dr. Paul, for parents to take back control of education, isn’t it?

Ron Paul: Yes, (the government has) gone too far, and now there is a reaction to this and there’s a lot of people in this country sick and tired of the public school system.  …

Who’s in charge of the education of the children? To me, it’s like saying who’s in charge of giving young people insight into spiritual life. It certainly isn’t the government. And I think education is the equivalent to that. And we would never think, I mean nobody’s preaching that we should have a theocracy. Although there are some in this country I guess that would accept it. But if you have private schooling and home schooling and it’s voluntary, you can have your religious beliefs placed in that setting. But it’s never mandated, it’s not dictated. It’s not determined by some government official.  …

There’s a revolt gaining day by day against the system, and parents are looking for other options. Fortunately the government is permitting some of those options at present. You know, back in the ’80s the government fought this tooth and nail, but there were some court decisions that really helped the homeschoolers practice what they believed in. But I don’t think we’re immune from that because there’re still a lot of people in our government who want more government. It’s not the Democrats that want it, and the Republicans are defending us. Sometimes they’d like us to believe that. I mean if you look at No Child Left Behind, that was a Republican program and putting the federal government first happened during the Eisenhower administration. Of course, the Department of Education came under Carter. But a lot of Republicans supported it. They don’t question it.  …

But at the rate they are going, I am convinced that there are going to be more and more American people who stand up and say “I’ve had enough,” and take their kids out of school just for the benefit of their children, the benefit of their safety, the benefit of getting a decent education.

And there are a lot of options out there. We have a Ron Paul curriculum, and it’s not designed for everybody. It has a certain bent to it, and that is to teach the children the freedom philosophy, free market economics. We’re not going to lecture individuals on how wonderful Keynesian economics is. That’s what the government’s been doing for too long. So if somebody wants to have homeschooling or private schooling which is purely religious, that should be available. But my goal is to protect the system that allows people to have all those choices. And that’s understanding the freedom philosophy. And hopefully we can offer a little help in improving our education system, because right now, it’s not in very good shape.

Goyette: I’ll pass out the address, which is RonPaulcurriculum.com, for those who would like to know more. But spend a minute, if you would, distinguishing as you have done elsewhere, between tax-payer funded vouchers and private tax credits.

Paul: This is a thing. I can remember when I didn’t think there should be a whole lot of difference. There’s an advantage to both. The parent gets to make a choice. They get a voucher from the government sort of like a food stamp, an educational food stamp. Then you go and pick it. But that is not like a tax credit. I’m in favor of tax credits under the present circumstances. If you have a voucher and its government issued, then the government can come in and tell you what school to go to, and they actually end up getting more control of a private institution. It sort of opens up the door to controlling something we want to be very private. So I don’t like the idea of vouchers.  …

A lot of good conservatives still think that vouchers are a good idea, but I’d much rather go with the idea of a tax credit and give the people back their money that they had to spend on the education of their children.

Goyette: A law suit has now gone to trial in Los Angeles with nine public school students suing the state of California. They’re actually suing about teacher tenure laws and other protection of inferior teachers, which they say denies them the right to a quality education.

Paul: That’s sort of a mixed bag because you have the right to liberty and parents have a responsibility to help education their children, but you don’t have a right to education. But you also don’t have the obligation to suffer the consequences of somebody who takes over education when they shouldn’t be involved, and then force them into a school and then give them an inferior education. So it’s a real dilemma.  …

But if there’s a government law or government rule artificially propping up bad teachers, yes, you should change those laws. If union powers one way of hiring bad teachers or keeping teachers on and having excessive pays and being rewarded for not doing their job, yes, then I think you should have recourse and at least make this point. But, unfortunately, it’s going to be difficult in the court system to rally around this whole principle.  …

I think this court case is instrumental, it’s important, it points it out and if they can repeal or at least rule out the special privileges that the government has for protecting bad teachers, then it would be worthwhile, but I’m not holding my breath. I think in the meantime we should work for reform the best we can nationally and locally. … But, ultimately, if you’re still concerned about your children, and you’re not happy with the education, you should look into alternative education, which does include homeschooling and private schooling.

Other Ron Paul podcast transcripts: A reality check on government spending, the need for more spy whistleblowers and the U.S.’s role as the world’s policeman.

For your Freedom and Prosperity,

Charles Goyette