Public education is education mandated for the children of the general public by the government, whether national, regional, or local, provided by an institution of civil government, and paid for, in whole or in part, by taxes. The term is generally applied to basic education, K -12 education or primary and secondary education: it is rarely, if ever, applied to post-secondary education, advanced education, or universities, colleges, or technical schools. A tax (also known as a duty) is a financial charge or other levy imposed on an individual or a legal entity by a state or a functional equivalent of a state (e. ...

Public education is a civil institution; that is, the primary decisions about access, curriculum, and allocation of resources are made by a civil authority (government) or by the employees of a civil authority. Public education is inclusive, both in its treatment of students and in that enfranchisement for the government of public education is as broad as for government generally. Public education is often organized and operated to be a deliberate model of the civil community in which it functions.

Public education may be provided by a national or regional government (province, state, territory, etc.), or it may be provided by a local (non-state) government. Where public education is provided by the state or a regional government, it is often referred to as "state education", a term which is rarely used when public education is provided by a local government.

Public education is typically provided to groups of students (classrooms; the "one-to-many" model of delivery), with a number of groups of students clustered in a school. However, the term "public education" is not synonymous with "public schooling". Public education can be provided in-home, employing visiting teachers, supervising teachers, and/or distance learning. It can also be provided in non-school, non-home settings, such as shopping mall space. ...

The term "public education" is not synonymous with the term "publicly funded education". Government may make a public policy decision that it wants to have some financial resources distributed in support of, and it may want to have some control over, the provision of education which is not public education. Grants-in-aid of private schools, and voucher systems all provide examples of publicly funded education which is not public education. Conversely, a public school (including ones run by school districts) may rely heavily on non-public funding (such as high fees or private donations) but still be considered public by virtue of public ownership and control.

Public education often involves the following:

1. compulsory student attendance (until a certain age or standard is achieved);
2. certification of teachers and curricula, either by the government or by a teachers' organization;
3. testing and standards provided by government.

The United Kingdom provides an anomalous use of the term "public school". In England the term "public school" refers to an elite of privately funded independent schools which had their origins in medieval schools funded by charity to provide education for the poor. (The anomaly points to one of the fundamentals of public education, which is inclusion: in times past the commitment to inclusion was demonstrated by reaching out through charity.) Compulsory education is education which children are required by law to receive and governments to provide. ...

History

Sparta in classical Greece had a system of general public education. After that, basic education was generally by private tutors to the wealthy. In Medieval Europe, this was done by religious organisations such as monasteries or cathedral choir "song schools" which educated the priesthood rather than the general populace. At this time, grammar schools were founded in many towns, and universities were founded by the church to train the clergy. Sparta (Doric: , Attic: ) is a city in southern Greece. ... Monastery of St. ... A cathedral is a Christian church building, specifically of a denomination with an episcopal hierarchy, such as the Anglican, Catholic and some Lutheran churches, which serves as the central church of a diocese, and thus as a bishops seat. ... A choir or chorus is a musical ensemble of singers. ... A grammar school is a type of school found in some English-speaking countries. ... Representation of a university class, 1350s. ...

Scotland led the way in implementing a system of general public education with free provision for the poor, starting in 1561 during the Protestant Reformation, with support from taxation being introduced in 1633. Reformation concepts such as the priesthood serving laypeople and the importance of the individual conscience and the supremacy of Scripture made widespread literacy important. In the late 18th century provision of public education emerged in other countries, as political philosophers argued that an educated citizenry was an essential component of a democratic society. Motto: (Latin for No one provokes me with impunity)1 Anthem: Multiple unofficial anthems Capital Edinburgh Largest city Glasgow Official language(s) English, Gaelic, Scots 2 Government Constitutional monarchy  - Queen of the UK Queen Elizabeth II  - Prime Minister of the UK Tony Blair MP  - First Minister Jack McConnell MSP Unification... The Protestant Reformation, also referred to as the Protestant Revolution, Protestant Revolt,or theLutheran Reformation, was a movement in the 16th century to reform the Catholic Church in Western Europe. ... (17th century - 18th century - 19th century - more centuries) As a means of recording the passage of time, the 18th century refers to the century that lasted from 1701 through 1800. ...

While in colonial America, as in Europe, schooling was often regarded as a prerequisite for religion on the basis of the same Protestant Reformation concepts, the Northwest Ordinance provided that "Religion, morality, and knowledge being necessary to good government and the happiness of mankind, schools and the means of education shall forever be encouraged." The Northwest Ordinance (formally An Ordinance for the Government of the Territory of the United States, North-West of the River Ohio, and also known as the Freedom Ordinance) was an act of the Continental Congress of the United States passed on July 13, 1787 under the Articles of Confederation. ...

In the 19th century, industrialization and the rise of democratic nation-states led to the more widespread systematization of public schools. In France, for example, the state used public schools to foster national identity and linguistic conformity at the expense of separatist movements and regional dialects. The public school system in the United States has also been credited with being an important instrument in the assimilation of large numbers of immigrants. Education, at least at a primary school level, was made compulsory in some American states in the mid 19th century, in Scotland in 1872 and in England and Wales shortly afterwards.

By the 20th century, secondary and higher levels of education were important for the economic production. This was due to the high demand of young workers with different skills. This kind of labor supply was low by the beginning of the 20th century; consequently, this produced high wages inequalites between ocupations that required more education. During this century, mass secondary education was first developed in the United State. By 1910 the United States had the highest enrollment rate in postelementary education. It was after the mid-century when the leader nations started to increase their enrollment rates relative to the United States.

Overview

Public education is generally available to all. In most countries, it is compulsory for children to attend school up to a certain age, but the option of attending private school is open to many. In the case of private schooling, schools operate independently of the state and generally defray their costs (or even make a profit) by charging students tuition fees. The funding for public schools, on the other hand, is provided by tax revenues, so that even individuals who do not attend school (or whose dependents do not attend school) help to ensure that society is educated. In poverty stricken societies, authorities are often lax on compulsory school attendance because the children there are valuable laborers. It is these same children whose income-securing labor cannot be forfeited to allow for school attendance. Private schools, or independent schools, are schools not administered by local, state, or national government, which retain the right to select their student body and are funded in whole or in part by charging their students tuition rather than with public (state) funds. ... Tuition means instruction, teaching or a fee charged for educational instruction especially at a formal institution of learning. ... The term public school has different (and in some cases contradictory) meanings due to regional differences. ...

In some countries, such as Germany, private associations or churches can operate schools according to their own principles, as long as they comply with certain state requirements. When these specific requirements are met, especially in the area of the school curriculum, the schools will qualify to receive state funding. They are then treated financially and for accreditation purposes as part of the public education system, even though they make decisions about hiring and school policy (not hiring atheists, for example), which the state might not make itself.

Proponents of public education assert it to be necessary because of the need in modern society for people who are capable of reading, writing, and doing basic mathematics. However, some libertarians argue that education is best left to the private sector; in addition, advocates of alternative forms of education such as unschooling argue that these same skills can be achieved without subjecting children to state-run compulsory schooling. In most industrialized countries, these views are distinctly in the minority. Reading is a process of retrieving and comprehending some form of stored information or ideas. ... A Specimen of typeset fonts and languages, by William Caslon, letter founder; from the 1728 Cyclopaedia. ... Mathematics is commonly defined as the study of patterns of structure, change, and space; more informally, one might say it is the study of figures and numbers. Mathematical knowledge is constantly growing, through research and application, but mathematics itself is not usually considered a natural science. ... See also Libertarianism and Libertarian Party Libertarian,is a term for person who has made a conscious and principled commitment, evidenced by a statement or Pledge, to forswear violating others rights and usually living in voluntary communities: thus in law no longer subject to government supervision. ... Unschooling (also sometimes referred to as natural learning, child-led learning, discovery learning, autodidactic learning, or child-directed learning) is the term that means being responsible for your own education. ...

National public school systems

Scottish education

Main article: Education in Scotland

The Church of Scotland was established in 1560, during the Protestant Reformation period as the official state religion in Scotland, and in the following year it set out to provide a school in every parish controlled by the local kirk-session, with education to be provided free to the poor, and the expectation that church pressure would ensure that all children took part. In 1633 the Parliament of Scotland introduced local taxation to fund this provision. Schooling was not free, but the tax support kept fees low, and the church and charity funded poorer students. This had considerable success, but by the late 18th century the physical extent of some parishes and population growth in others led to an increasing role for "adventure schools" funded from fees and for schools funded by religious charities, initially Protestant and later Roman Catholic. {{Infobox Education| country name = Scotland | agency image = | agency = Scottish Executive | leader titles = Minister for Education and Young People Minister for Enterprise and Lifelong Learning| leader names = Peter Peacock   Nicol Stephen | budget = £4. ... The Protestant Reformation, also referred to as the Protestant Revolution, Protestant Revolt,or theLutheran Reformation, was a movement in the 16th century to reform the Catholic Church in Western Europe. ... Motto: (Latin for No one provokes me with impunity)1 Anthem: Multiple unofficial anthems Capital Edinburgh Largest city Glasgow Official language(s) English, Gaelic, Scots 2 Government Constitutional monarchy  - Queen of the UK Queen Elizabeth II  - Prime Minister of the UK Tony Blair MP  - First Minister Jack McConnell MSP Unification... A parish is a type of administrative subdivision. ... The parliament of Scotland, officially the Estates of Parliament, was the legislature of the independent Kingdom of Scotland. ... (17th century - 18th century - 19th century - more centuries) As a means of recording the passage of time, the 18th century refers to the century that lasted from 1701 through 1800. ... The Roman Catholic Church, most often spoken of simply as the Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with over one billion members. ...

In 1872 education for all children aged 5 to 13 was made compulsory with "public schools" (in the Scots meaning of schools for the general public) under local school boards. The leaving age was raised to 14 in 1883, and a Leaving Certificate Examination was introduced in 1888 to set national standards for secondary education. School fees were ended in 1890. The Scottish Education Department ran the system centrally, with local authorities running the schools with considerable autonomy. In 1999, following devolution from the Parliament of the United Kingdom to the new Scottish Parliament, central organisation of education was taken over by departments of the Scottish Executive, with running the schools coming under unitary authority districts. The term public school has different (and in some cases contradictory) meanings due to regional differences. ... The Scottish Education Department (SED) was the body responsible for schooling in Scotland, founded in 1872, when education was made compulsory. ... Local governments are administrative offices of an area smaller than a state. ... The Houses of Parliament, seen over Westminster Bridge The Parliament of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland is the supreme legislative body in the United Kingdom and British overseas territories. ... The Scottish Parliaments logo in English and Gaelic. ... The Executives logo, shown with English and Scottish Gaelic caption The term Scottish Executive is used in two different, but closely-related senses: to denote the executive arm of Scotlands national legislature (i. ... For local government purposes, Scotland is divided into 32 areas designated as Council Areas which are all governed by unitary authorities designated as Councils. They have been in use since April 1, 1996, under the provisions of the Local Government etc. ...

United States public schools

In the United States, all powers which are not assigned to the federal state by the U.S. Constitution are reserved to the individual states. Since the federal Constitution does not mention education, and the U.S. Supreme Court has held conclusively there is no federal Constitutional right to an education, public education has always been under the general control of the individual states. The steadily expanding role of the federal government in public education since the late nineteenth century has recently become a subject of heated debate, as many states (and more than a few Senators and Members of Congress) perceive the U.S. Government to be overstepping its constitutional bounds. Page I of the Constitution of the United States of America Page II of the United States Constitution Page III of the United States Constitution Page IV of the United States Constitution The Syng inkstand, with which the Constitution was signed The Constitution of the United States is the supreme... To meet Wikipedias quality standards, this article or section may require cleanup. ...

The systemic breadth required to implement statewide public education is such that most states employ a three-tiered model of decentralisation that parallels the general decentralisation model of state/county/township. To wit, there is usually a state superintendent of schools, who shuttles back and forth between the state department of education, the state board of education, and the state government itself. Statewide education policies are then regionally decentralised to intermediate school districts, or their equivalents by other names. These are invariably associated with counties, or with groups of counties; but the boundaries are not necessarily the same as the county boundaries. The intermediate school district is constituted of however many local school districts are assigned to its jurisdiction.

For example, the Washtenaw Intermediate School District is one of Michigan's 57 regional intermediate school districts, created in 1962 as part of a reform to Michigan's public school system. (The state has 83 counties.) It is constituted of the Ann Arbor, Chelsea, Dexter, Lincoln, Manchester, Milan, Saline, Whitmore Lake, Willow Run, and Ypsilanti public school districts. Although centred on Washtenaw County, hence the name, it does not include all of Washtenaw County in its boundaries. Small to noticeable parts of Washtenaw County are served by local school districts that are part of the intermediate school districts based on the neighbouring or nearby counties of Wayne, Oakland, Livingston, Ingham, Jackson, and Lenawee. Likewise, local school districts based in Washtenaw County include parts of neighbouring Lenawee, Jackson, Livingston, Wayne, and Monroe counties. Fully two-thirds of the Milan Area Schools district is actually located in Monroe County, but at the time the district was established, all of its schools were in Washtenaw County.

In most states, these county and regional "intermediate" school districts and controlling boards merely implement state education policy at the local level, and provide a channel through which the local districts communicate upward to the state board of education, state superintendent, and department of education.

Local school districts are managed by local school boards, which own and operate the public primary and secondary schools within their boundaries. They typically have no authority over private or parochial (religiously-affiliated) schools, or over home-schooling. Michigan and Iowa, however, limit home schooling to the parents of the children, and require the parents to be certified teachers. In California, where - as in most states - the licensing of teachers is limited to the public schools, teachers are not "certified"; they are "credentialed." School districts are a form of special-purpose district in the United States (amongst some other places) which serves to operate the local public primary and secondary schools. ... This article or section should be merged with board of education A school board (or school committee) is an elected council that helps determine educational policy in a small regional area, such as a city, state, or province. ... Primary or elementary education is the first years of formal, structured education that occurs during childhood. ... High school - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia /**/ @import /skins-1. ... Official language(s) None (English, de-facto) Capital Lansing Largest city Detroit Area  Ranked 11th  - Total 97,990 sq mi (253,793 km²)  - Width 239 miles (385 km)  - Length 491 miles (790 km)  - % water 41. ... This article or section does not cite its references or sources. ... This article is becoming very long. ...

History

The first American public school was authorised on 2 January 1643 by the Town of Dedham in the Massachusetts Bay Colony - nearly 150 years before the establishment of the United States. // Events January 21 - Abel Tasman discovers Tonga February 6 - Abel Tasman discovers the Fiji islands. ...   Nickname: Contentment Settled: 1635 â€“ Incorporated: 1636 Zip Code(s): 02026-02027 â€“ Area Code(s): / 781 Official website: http://www. ... A map of the Massachusetts Bay Colony. ...

The Regents of the University of the State of New York was established on 1 May 1784. The first accrediting agency in the United States, it is partly a collective of public and private schools, libraries, museums, etc.; and it includes as its most important organ the New York State Department of Education.

The Land Ordinance of 1785 established a mechanism for funding public education in the United States. Until at least the 1840s, however, most schools continued to be privately owned and operated[1]. The Land Ordinance of 1785 was adopted on May 20, 1785 by the Congress formed by the Articles of Confederation. ... 1840 is a leap year starting on Wednesday (link will take you to calendar). ...

The Michigan Legislature establishes the Michigan State Normal School in 1849, the first teacher-training institution west of Albany, New York, and only the sixth in the nation. Elevated to collegiate status within a few years, the Michigan State Normal College became Eastern Michigan College in 1956, and Eastern Michigan University in 1959. Founded as a co-educational institution, it was the first institution of higher learning to serve both men and women in Michigan, and one of the first in the nation.

Coeducation and the emergence of modern high schools; the expansion of compulsory education. The growth of extracurricular activities (1850s-1950s). The principle of equality in education, generally and especially as between the sexes, becomes a standard to achieve.

Separate Roman Catholic and Jewish schools come to be established in the mid-nineteenth century, first in New York City and later across the country. This was in response to the overly anti-Catholic and anti-Jewish positions presented by most textbooks used in public schools throughout the nation, in the interest of promoting Protestant hegemony throughout the United States.

The United States Supreme Court's 1954 ruling in Brown v. Board of Education was a hallmark in American education law. It overturned the 1896 decision in Plessy v. Ferguson which had found that public schools segregated by race were permissible so long as the instruction in both systems was equal. The immediate effect was more symbolic than real, however. The schools that were racially segregated before 1954 were still racially segregated afterward. But they were all part of the same local school system instead of separate districts, and the psychological effect of the decision upon the public was ultimately much more important than the lack of any immediate, real effect. Most schools in America were not segregated at the time, and most of those that had been gradually became as desegrated as they could get, given the overall composition of the community. Those public schools that aggressively refused to desegregate into the 1970's were forced to do so by means of desegregation busing in the affected parts of the country. The Supreme Court of the United States is the highest judicial body in the United States and is the only part of the judicial branch of the United States federal government explicitly specified in the United States Constitution. ... 1954 (MCMLIV) was a common year starting on Friday of the Gregorian calendar. ... Holding Racial segregation of students in public schools violates the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment, because separate facilities are inherently unequal. ... 1896 (MDCCCXCVI) was a leap year starting on Wednesday (see link for calendar). ... Holding The separate but equal provision of public accommodations by state governments is constitutional under the Equal Protection Clause. ... Desegregation busing, referred to as forced busing by opponents to desegregated schools in some areas, is the practice of remedying past racial discrimination in American public schools by busing children to specific schools in an effort to counteract discriminatory school construction and district assignments. ...

Congress finally passed the G.I. Bill of Rights in 1944. As a result, many veterans of the Armed Services attended undegraduate and graduate school after World War II who previously could not have afforded to do so. This was the first step in a broad social equalisation of American higher education and, through that, of American business management and the elite professions of law and medicine. The Servicemens Readjustment Act of 1944 (better known as the G.I. Bill) provided for college or vocational education for returning World War II veterans (commonly referred to as GIs or G.I.s) as well as one year of unemployment compensation. ... 1944 (MCMXLIV) was a leap year starting on Saturday (the link is to a full 1944 calendar). ... Combatants Major Allied powers: United Kingdom Soviet Union United States Republic of China and others Major Axis powers: Nazi Germany Italy Japan and others Commanders Winston Churchill Joseph Stalin Franklin Roosevelt Harry Truman Chiang Kai-Shek Adolf Hitler Benito Mussolini Hideki Tojo Casualties Military dead: 17,000,000 Civilian dead...

The State of California implemented a comprehensive "Master Plan" for higher education in 1959, which was initially successful in helping to provide higher education to as many Californians as were qualified and wanted to pursue it. It was seriously undermined in over the next 20 years, however, by a number of factors. First, in the sixty years since the end of World War II, California's population has more than quintupled, but the infrastructure of the state - including its educational system - did not grow proportionately to the rise in population to adequately service the needs of the state (and the infrastructure is still trailing markedly behind the rest of the nation as California enters the twenty-first century). Second, the California State College system transforming itself into the California State University, which was never anticipated by the institutional stratification components of the Master Plan. Third, the passage of Proposition 13 in 1978 severely, and negatively, impacted the funding of all public education in the state, including public colleges and universities. As a consequence of these three principle factors, and other less important ones, the California Master Plan is largely regarded now, at the beginning of the twenty-first century, as a well-intended idea that ultimately failed because its framers neglected to realize that all things change over time - whereas the Master Plan implicitly presumed that change would not occur. This article is becoming very long. ...

In 1964, broad access to higher education was further guaranteed by the creation of Title IV Federal Financial Aid Programs. Many state governments also created their own programmes. 1964 (MCMLXIV) was a leap year starting on Wednesday (the link is to a full 1964 calendar). ...

The Department of Health, Education and Welfare was reorganised under the Carter administration as the U.S. Department of Education and the Department of Health and Human Services. The new federal Education Department began operation in 1980. The United States Department of Education was created in 1979 (by PL 96-88) as a Cabinet-level department of the United States government, and began operating in 1980. ...

Funding

A number of issues swirl around the problems of public education but these concerns dominate conversations regarding school finance:

• Private and public good of education
  • Adam Smith in The Wealth of Nations discusses, at length, the importance of an educated populace. Studies show comparisons of the cost of one year of school to the cost of one year of prison demonstrating that prison is far more costly. Though the links between education and prisons are debatable, evidence suggests a strong correlation between lack of education and likelihood of committing a crime and being incarcerated. States with low-dropout rates have a lower rate of incarceration.
  • The public good comes into question as well when considering how school districts set their boundaries, granting and limiting access to students based on their physical and financial positions in the community. Debates over the borders of school districts frequently involve issues of race and class.

• Autonomy
  • Responding to criticisms of failures of management because of highly centralized structures, site-based management has come to the fore as a way to improve academic performance with localized solutions.
• Concept of fiscal federalism
  • Funding is multi-layered. While it is generally the local tax base which is responsible for supporting the schools, a certain amount of funding is also passed on from the state and federal levels. Recently, as the federal government reduces support for education the schools are forced into painful fiscal adjustments as promised moneys never arrive.
• The funding of programs for students with special mental or physical needs and the extent of access, inclusion, and opportunity provided to such students.
• Efficiency
• Equal opportunity (Title IX, No Child Left Behind, Brown v. Board of Education, Proposition 13)

Adam Smith, FRSE, (baptised and probably born June 5, 1723 O.S. (June 16 N.S.) – July 17, 1790) was a Scottish political economist and moral philosopher. ... Adam Smith An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations is the magnum opus of the Scottish economist Adam Smith, published on March 9, 1776 during the Scottish Enlightenment. ... Fiscal federalism is the system of transfer payments or grants by which a federal government shares its revenues with lower levels of government. ... Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972 (United States), commonly known as Title IX, is a 37-word law enacted on June 23, 1972 that states: No person in the United States shall, on the basis of sex, be excluded from participation in, be denied the benefits of, or... Signing ceremony at Hamilton High School in Hamilton, Ohio. ... Holding Racial segregation of students in public schools violates the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment, because separate facilities are inherently unequal. ... Proposition 13 was a ballot initiative enacted by the voters of the state of California on June 6, 1978. ...

School vouchers

Since 1873, Maine has financed the education of thousands of kindergarten through 12th grade students in private schools[2]. This type of system is known as a school voucher program. 1873 (MDCCCLXXIII) was a common year starting on Wednesday (see link for calendar). ... Official language(s) None (English de facto) Capital Augusta Largest city Portland Area  Ranked 39th  - Total 33,414 sq mi (86,542 km²)  - Width 210 miles (338 km)  - Length 320 miles (515 km)  - % water 13. ... An education voucher, commonly called a school voucher, is a certificate by which parents are given the ability to pay for the education of their children at a school of their choice, rather than the public school to which they were assigned. ...

In recent years, politicians have criticized the public education system, arguing that it has failed in some areas, particularly inner-cities. School performance is generally measured by student performance on standardized tests, typically administered by the state. One major problem facing the modern education system is how to fix schools that consistently "underperform" - have large numbers of students who score poorly on the test. This article or section does not cite its references or sources. ...

One solution advocated by Milton Friedman and advocated politically by the United States Republican Party is the use of school vouchers. Students in districts with underperforming schools would be given money by the government to attend the school of their choice. Proponents argue that this would put the public schools in competition with private ones, and that competition would result in better choices for the public. In addition, a recent publication by the United States Department of Education has admitted that the average cost of public education per pupil is slightly more than double the cost per pupil of a private education, even though public schools have more students per teacher. Thus, there was no economy of scale as the per pupil cost should theoretically decline the more students there are per teacher. Milton Friedman (July 31, 1912 – November 16, 2006) was an American economist who made major contributions to the fields of macroeconomics, microeconomics, economic history and statistics while advocating laissez-faire capitalism. ... The Republican Party, often called the GOP (for Grand Old Party, although one early citation described it as the Gallant Old Party) [1], is one of the two major political parties in the United States. ... ...

Milton Friedman has argued that this is the result of public schools having no accountability to the market, and subsequently no accountability to parents or students. This lack of accountability, he believes, not only contributes to an inefficient use of resources and taxpayer dollars, but a poor education that does not fulfill the needs of students and parents. The vouchers would offer choice to parents and students if a public school did not provide them with the quality education they desired, as the voucher could be used at other public or private schools. Schools that lose students lose money, and schools that gain students gain money, thus providing a strong incentive to become efficient and accountable. Friedman does not deny that some schools will be hurt or close as a result, but he argues that it is necessary to eliminate the deadweight from the school system to bring efficiency and accountability back to education. Friedman and supporters of the voucher system believe that the market accountability will create positive results that can be emulated by even the worst public schools.

Opponents of the voucher system believe this will sap money from public schools, potentially destroying them. Another criticism is that private schools, unlike public schools, are not required to accept any student who comes through their doors. Furthermore, the use of tax-supported vouchers to support private schools amounts to a government subsidy for those schools. The state, unlike in the case of public schools, has far less control over the curriculum and operation, including employment policies of these private schools. Because of this, critics of the voucher scheme argue that it would violate both the principle of "no taxation without representation" as unlike a public school board, the trustees of private schools are not elected by the populace. In addition, some critics argue it would violate the separation of church and state (vouchers would help fund schools with religious curricula or that may hire and fire based on criteria such as remarriage after divorce.) Others note that is a broad reading of the constitution.

Alternative/charter schools

Also in recent years, there has been a proliferation in alternative schools. Most prominent of these has been the movement towards charter schools. Charter schools are public schools (both owned publicly and publicly funded), which are run independently of the local school district and tend to have less bureaucracy, with mixed results on the students' performance on standardized tests. Additionally, charter schools can have a "theme": some specialize in teaching mathematics and science, others in teaching students who are considered "at-risk." Great Neck Village School, an alternative high school in Great Neck, New York, USA Alternative education, also known as non-traditional education or educational alternative, describes a number of approaches to teaching and learning other than traditional publicly- or privately-run schools. ... Charter schools are publicly funded elementary or secondary schools that have been freed from some of the rules, regulations, and statutes that apply to other public schools, in exchange for some type of accountability for producing certain results, which are set forth in each charter schools charter. ... Charter schools are publicly funded elementary or secondary schools that have been freed from some of the rules, regulations, and statutes that apply to other public schools, in exchange for some type of accountability for producing certain results, which are set forth in each charter schools charter. ... Originally a standardized test was simply a standard test – of academic achievement or of knowledge in a specific academic or vocational domain. ...

Bilingual education

Bilingual education, the teaching of students in two languages, has become a contentious topic in recent decades. See bilingual education for main article. Bilingual education involves teaching all subjects in school through two different languages - in the United States, instruction occurs in English and a minority language, such as Spanish or Chinese, with varying amounts of each language used in accordance with the program model. ...

Proposed abolition

The Alliance for the Separation of School & State and various Libertarian groups have proposed abolishing public education. In 1963, Nathaniel Branden wrote an essay, Common Fallacies About Capitalism, which devoted a section to excoriating public education. Branden compared education to shoes, arguing that private enterprise is more efficient at providing goods and services than the government. Branden's essay was published in Ayn Rand's Capitalism: The Unknown Ideal[3]. The Alliance for the Separation of School & State, of Fresno, California, is one of the largest U.S. advocacy organizations supporting an end to public education. ... See also Libertarianism and Libertarian Party Libertarian,is a term for person who has made a conscious and principled commitment, evidenced by a statement or Pledge, to forswear violating others rights and usually living in voluntary communities: thus in law no longer subject to government supervision. ... 1963 (MCMLXIII) was a common year starting on Tuesday (the link is to a full 1963 calendar). ... Nathaniel Branden is a psychotherapist and author of psychology books and multiple articles on ethical and political philosophy. ... It has been suggested that The Ayn Rand Collective be merged into this article or section. ...

Such proposals face considerable barriers, as many state constitutions mandate public funding of education. For instance, Article VIII of the Virginia Constitution requires the legislature to "provide for a system of free public elementary and secondary schools for all children of school age throughout the Commonwealth"[4]. The Constitution of Virginia is a United States state constitution. ...

See also

• Free education
• List of education articles by country

Free education is a policy stance in politics that ensures education for its citizens up to a certain level. ... This is a list of articles on education organized by country: Education in Afghanistan Education in Albania Education in Algeria Education in Argentina Education in Armenia Education in Australia Education in Austria Education in Bangladesh Education in Belgium Education in Bolivia Education in Brazil Education in Bulgaria Education in Burkina...

References

• Heller, Frank: Lessons from Maine: Education Vouchers for Students since 1873, Cato Institute, Sep. 10, 2001.
• Thattai, Deeptha: A History of Public Education in the United States.
• Michael Pons, NEA: School Vouchers: The Emerging Track Record
• Li Yi. 2005. The Structure and Evolution of Chinese Social Stratification. University Press of America. ISBN 0761833315

External links

• Public Education Network
• Center on Reinventing Public Education
• The Story of American Public Education
• School Survival - for young people who hate being forced to attend school
• Public Education in the United States
• History of Public Education in the United States