Free Choice and Education

In the United States of America, the citizens have the rights and freedoms that were given to us by our Creator - Free Choice.  Free Choice is scarey to those citizens that do not have the wherewithal to view criteria or set priorities or understand long term ideas or accept responsibility for themselves.  It isn't that they are scared, necessarily, to finalize the thought but, rather, that they are afraid of what that final thought will produce.

In Sunday's Kansas City Star one of the major articles dealt with the ever-present question about class sizes in our schools.  Now, putting aside the fact that an education is not a constitutional responsibility of our government but a personal responsibility of the citizen, the Star listed other countries and the class sizes that can be found in their schools.  My first response, of course, is "so what"?  I know that this is a political cry used by the teachers unions, but really, why would we care what the class size is in a socialist or socialist/communist country?  Americans are often told that our students rank behind most of the European students, but most of those countries have 22-24+ students per classroom, so that certainly can't be the reason. 

Free Choice is the reason because in those countries the citizens have very little and virtually none where education is concerned.  When the government runs the school system, they also get to make all the decisions.  Because children are "sorted out" at puberty, the room size doesn't matter because all the students in that class of 28 children are far above average.  Little Jimmy, who is bright and vigorous, didn't get to go on to preparatory high school because he just doesn't care to apply himself and has only a 2.8 GPA.  Now, think how many young boys and girls would have been kept out of college because they didn't test well at age 13/14. 

When the government controls the schools they also control the teachers.  If the student quota is full, then a very bright and energetic child will be told he has to be a baker or a plumber or a mechanic, but no more schooling.  The same 'choices' are made for the teachers:  that college grad may want to go on to be a social worker or an accountant or a botanist, but the state needs them to be a teacher so that's what they spend their life doing, like it or not.  And...that new teacher will teach at the school they are assigned to not the one they would pick. 

It is good and noble that our community selects to try to educate children through their teens so they may enter their adult life with skills that will serve them and their families.  When those children are small it is the responsibility of the parents to see to their own childs education whether that involves school enrollment, growing green beans, washing the pet dog, learning about God, knowing proper hygiene, etc.  When that same child reaches puberty, the age of reason, we the community are left to surmise that the child has been prepared to independently seek further knowledge at some point in the next 6 to 10 years.  This education is no guarantee that the child will grow into a functioning, discerning fellow citizen, but they will have been given the choice to learn how to better themselves.  Remembering 2 Thessalonians 3:10 "If a man will not work, he shall not eat."  Sometimes, hard choices have to be made and must be made.

Our nation's future is precarious at the present, many people don't want to have to sacrifice to get us back where our forefathers expect us to be, and the more people are guaranteed something they haven't earned, the closer we get to a social/communist existence.  Our education is a choice for each to make and some make that choice later in life.  Maybe it just took them a little longer to realize it's what they really wanted or needed, but regardless the reason, the freedom to make that choice is still there and must be preserved.  When the government has full control, they make the decisions based on what is good for the 'state', not what is good for the family or the individual.  Fewer students at higher levels will mean fewer teachers needed.  Only the brilliant will be allowed to go to college.  This is the same tyranny that forced the formation of this nation over 200 years ago.