Many school officials believe parents should not have any real input in their children’s education. That is one reason why school authorities hold their committee meetings in secret.

Another reason is that school authorities fear that parents will complain about certain classes and curriculum subjects. For instance, many public schools have introduced classes and books about homosexuality into elementary and high-school sex-education classes. When parents find out about these classes, they frequently complain to school principal and local politicians. To avoid these complaints, public schools often try to keep secret from parents what they teach in these sex-ed classes.

Moreover, teachers, principals, and school authorities don't have to listen to those amateur, irritating parents who complain that their kids can't read. Public-school employees get tenure after a few years. That means, in effect, that it's almost impossible to fire them, no matter how bad or even mediocre they are. If you couldn't be fired, would you care about parent's complaints? That's why they don't, and that's why public-school teachers or principals can be arrogant or indifferent to parent's legitimate complaints.

Parents, solution is to stop hitting your head against brick wall of arrogant public-school employees. Just walk around wall and don't look back. That is, consider taking your children out of public school and find real education choice and control in education free-market. Consider homeschooling or some of many quality, low-cost, K-12 Internet private schools listed in Resource section of "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.

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