It is no coincidence that Sparta had compulsory, state-run education. If a society believes that children belong not to parents, but to state, then state must control children’s education by compulsion.

Are our public schools any different than brutal Spartan society in way they treat parents and children? Today, school compulsory-attendance laws force parents to hand over their children to government employees called teachers for eight to twelve years.

In effect, our local and state governments claim that they, like Spartans, own our children's minds and bodies for twelve years. Parents who refuse to hand over their children to public schools can be and have been locked in jail for disobeying compulsory-attendance laws.

In this respect, our public schools today are just as brutal as Spartans. The difference is only in degree. Where Spartans stole children from their parents to serve a lifetime in their military, our local governments create laws that let them, in effect, legally kidnap our children to serve twelve years in their education boot camps called public schools.

The brutality of principal is same. Like Spartans, our public-school officials think they own our children, and have contempt for parents' rights.

Joel Turtel is an education policy analyst. He is also the author of "The Welfare State: No Mercy For The Middle Class." Contact Information: Website: http://www.mykidsdeservebetter.com, Email: lbooksusa@aol.com, Phone: 718-447-7348. Article Copyrighted © 2005 by Joel Turtel. Article can be reprinted on ezines or newsletters only if Contact information to Joel Turtel and his website is included

From 1800 to 1840, literacy rates in North increased from 75 percent to between 91 and 97 percent. In South, white literacy rate grew from about 50 to 60 percent, to 81 percent (it was illegal to teach blacks to read). By 1850, literacy rates in Massachusetts and other New England states, for both men and women, was close to 97 percent. This was before Massachusetts created first compulsory public-school system in America in 1852 (of course, these literacy numbers did not apply to black slaves since many colonies had laws that forbid teaching slaves to read).

Ever since first public schools were established in Massachusetts in 1852, and made compulsory in most of states by 1890's, literacy among adults and children has been deteriorating. As I noted in a previous article, today literacy rate for students in our public schools ranges from 30 percent to 70 percent. Compare that literacy horror statistic to over 90 percent literacy rate for average child, man, and woman by 1852.

The question to naturally ask is this: if our kids learned to read far better when we had an education free-market before public schools came along, why on Earth do we need public schools now? The answer is, we don't. Parents should take advantage of quality, low-cost, free-market education alternatives they have right now that I explore in my book, "Public Schools, Public Menace."

Joel Turtel is an education policy analyst. He is also the author of "The Welfare State: No Mercy For The Middle Class." Contact Information: Website: http://www.mykidsdeservebetter.com, Email: lbooksusa@aol.com, Phone: 718-447-7348, Article Copyrighted © 2005 by Joel Turtel, Article can be reprinted on ezines or newsletters only if Contact information to Joel Turtel and his website is included.