Parents, if you don’t think this is harsh punishment for your innocent child, ask yourself this. When your spouse pressures you to attend some event you hate, whether a ballet, lecture, or football game, how do you feel? After sitting at that event for only an hour, how do you feel? You are probably angry, irritated, and frustrated. You squirm in your seat or doze off. You can’t wait to get out of there. You can’t wait to get back to your life and doing things you love to do.

Well, millions of kids, and probably your child, must sit through this agony of boredom or frustration for 6 to 8 hours a day for 10 years in public-school classrooms. Yet, to repeat, what crimes have your children committed to warrant this horrible punishment?

In fact, they have committed no crime whatsoever. They are simply innocent victims of local governments and public-school authorities who think they own your children, who think they have right to put your children into education prisons for 10 years for “their own good.”

Parents, if a rogue cop came and took your child to prison for no reason whatsoever, except for saying it would be for your child’s “own good,” would you not fight to death to stop him? So why do you let school authorities take your innocent children and punish them for ten years?

Parents, if you thought you had no choice, you are wrong. Happily, you can homeschool your child or give your child a fun, quality, rewarding, low-cost education with Internet private schools. You have many education options. If your child hates school, listen to him or her. Don’t let school authorities put your child in a public-school prison for ten years. You have a choice, and your child’s life is at stake.

You can find out about all your education options in Joel Turtel’s book, “Public Schools, Public Menace.” Please take advantage of Resources in this book, for your children’s sake.

Article Copyrighted © 2005 by Joel Turtel.

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."