New Hampshire attorney Andru Volinsky considers the value of public schools.
What’s the purpose of public schools? If you believe EdChoice, the voucher proponents who would just as soon see public ed go away, fifty people, if asked, will give you fifty answers. Let me offer a simple response.
Public schools are generally a safe space where we feed kids, teach them to become good citizens, help them prepare for careers or further education, and intervene to improve their health. Public educators strive to meet these goals regardless of the sufficiency of the resources available and without regard to the race or ethnicity of the child or whether the child has a disability. This is not true for taxpayer-funded voucher schools.
Strong public schools are obviously designed to help the children who attend them. The purpose of public education, however, is broader. Our democracy depends upon our system of inclusive public education.
The concept of informed consent underlies our form of government. It was the most critical change in moving from English and European monarchies to the concept of government adopted in the American colonies. Although dumping tea into Boston harbor was symbolic, it wasn’t the raison d’etre for the Revolution. The critical change involved moving from a society in which the population was coerced or cajoled into compliance by powerful educated elites to one in which those who governed did so only with the informed consent of the people.
The thoughts of the nation’s founders on this concept of informed consent are represented by these quotes.
-James Madison, the fourth president, wrote: “A popular government without popular information, or the means of acquiring it is prologue to a farce or tragedy.”
-Dr. Benjamin Rush, an influential signer of the Declaration of Independence, abolitionist and surgeon general to the Continental Army, wrote: “A free government can only exist in an equal diffusion of literature.” In this context, “literature” meant “knowledge.”
-Thomas Jefferson, who insisted on a system of public education through the public university level in Virginia, is believed to have said, “An educated citizenry is a vital requisite for our survival as a free people.”