Yet, we do not see local governments owning and operating supermarkets, department stores, or apartment houses. Instead, government food stamp or rent subsidy programs give temporary financial help to those parents who are too poor to provide for their children.

When it comes to education, however, instead of giving vouchers or other temporary loans or subsidies to poor families so they can pay for their children’s education, we’ve created a government-owned-and-operated monstrosity called public schools. As we noted earlier, millions of parents now pay for private pre-schools, kindergartens, and colleges for their children in a vibrant, competitive, education free-market.

Most parents who can’t afford college tuition for their kids usually apply for student loans either from a bank or a government agency. Yet for 1st through 12th-grade education, suddenly government must step in, treat all parents like idiots or potential child abusers, and own and operate all schools.

To more fully understand absurdity of this system, imagine for a moment that well-intentioned government authorities want to make sure that every child has enough to eat, that no child gets “left behind” when it comes to food. To insure this goal, local governments across country take control of all supermarkets and grocery stores in your town.

Naturally, most parents don’t want to drug their children just because they are unruly, bored in class, or high-spirited. However, compulsory attendance laws force parents to send their children to public schools. Just as school authorities resort to compulsion to get their students by force, so they apply same compulsion against children and their parents to pressure parents into giving Ritalin to their kids.

How do schools pressure parents? They threaten to expel child, hold child back a grade, put child into a special-education class, or threaten parents with prosecution for child abuse.

Here’s one parent’s story:

"Hello, my name is Bobby B. [last name withheld for privacy], and that little boy you see above [in a picture in article] . . . is my pride and joy. The picture was taken on Halloween when he was 5 years old and he was already on Ritalin. He was put on Ritalin because local school district informed us that if we did not put him on medication he would be removed from school. In fact his first year was a nightmare from start."

"Kindergarten is supposed to be fun and enjoyable for child. However, Christopher had teacher from hell and she made his life miserable. He could do nothing right and at end of school year she was going to flunk him out of her class. . . . Christopher’s teacher thought he was nothing but trouble, too hyperactive, too hard to manage and she wanted nothing to do with him. This was start of our own nightmare and our introduction to Ritalin and ADD. For next 8 years our little boy was on this medication because without it he would not be allowed to continue in our public school system. . . ."