Education and the State

Education and the State: A Study in Political Economy, Third Edition, Revised and Expanded by E. G. West, Liberty Fund, 1994). 

Proposed Justifications for Government Schools

This book describes the rise of government schools in England. The author shows the flaws in the following justifications for government schools that were given during the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries: 

• Protect minors from negligent parents, who fail to ensure that their children receive an education

• Crime is reduced when children go to school

• Democracy requires an educated electorate

• Rich parents have an unfair advantage over poor parents

• Public education as a means for transmitting common values

• Public education contributes to economic growth

Market Forces in Private Education

Before government schools, parents sent their children to schools that gave the best education for the most reasonable fees. In public education (government schools), parents have only indirect control, via elections of school boards and politicians. Parents with political connections have the advantage with public schools; parents with money have the advantage with private schools. In public education, the government decides which school the child attends; in private education, the parents decide. 

England and Wales Timeline

• 1833: First government subsidies for education. Government gives money to private schools

• 1861: Newcastle Commission on Popular Education

• 1870: W.E. Forster Education Bill introduces Board Schools, government-run elementary schools 

• 1876: Education Act of 1876 requires parents to see to it that their children receive an elementary education

• 1944: Education Act of 1944 added secondary education (high school)