Your Neighborhood (Government) School
"Traditional" schooling is a quagmire. For one thing, as far as I know, It has only been traditional for a few hundreds years, and that was not for every student. Also, school, until quite recently, was a shorter-term affair. Students would leave school, when their required education was completely, and few kids went for a full twelve years.
Requirements that keep kids in school for almost their entire childhood, and arguably, into early adulthood - for some - seems like a great idea, but they most likely don't serve the needs of all children or families.
So there are alternatives. Those alternatives don't naturally take into account the length of schooling in years, but they do address content, daily routine, and learning style.
Magnet schools, Montessori, private, home, and in-traditional-school-alternative-style teaching provide alternatives to the daily grind of government schools. But not all parents or students have the will or social tolerance to go to the levels of commitment needed to try those alternatives. Also, many of those alternatives - including home school curricula - teach philosophically statist and often just plain wrong information - just like brick-and-mortar government schools.
A (Normal) Path For Most Families
And I just don't think that creating alternatives to traditional education is the only answer. Most people, through necessity or perceived necessity, will continue to have their children educated or pursue further education for themselves in statist (commonly referred to as "liberal" or "conservative") institutions. Unfortunately, it is hard to avoid statist instruction, whether it is offered in government or private institutions, or as mentioned before, purchased or borrowed materials.I was inspired to create this blog based on my own experience with educational materials in my children's elementary school. The first few incidents I let slide; I decided not to make waves. But the most recent incident lit a fire in me. The materials were simplified for a young audience, but some information was also clearly false.
I am not a stranger to promoting liberty and freedom from a not-so-ironic libertarian ("classical liberal") perspective. But I think I found an area of deficiency in the fight to win the hearts and minds for the side of true individual rights, justice, peace, and, yes, the American way.
Many in the Liberty movement want to abandon established educational institutions. And I think a injection of liberty philosophy will serve all students. So I think it is high time to School The Schools.
