"Why Do You Oppose Public Education?"

Five years ago we chose to home school our three younger children. After an initial adjustment period, we decided we would never go back to public education again. From a personal perspective, we have many reasons for home educating our children. My strongest personal reason lies within biblical scriptures like Deuteronomy 6:7 "And thou shalt teach them diligently unto thy children, and shalt talk of them when thou sittest in thine house, and when thou liest down, and when thou risest up." and Proverbs 22:6 - "Train up a child in the way he should go and when he is old he shall not depart from it." Our older children have attended our nation's public school system. So, I've personally witnessed a vast contrast within my own immediate family - I strongly prefer the view from the home school side.

But, I am often asked, "Why are you against public education?" Well, since becoming a home educator, I find myself asking many questions like:
"Why should I believe in a public education system whose overall results have been proven to be so poor?"
"Why do ALL property owners have to pay for public education - even if they've never had any children, their children are no longer of school age, or their children attend private or home school?"
"Why do other developed countries have better education systems with far less money spent and fewer resources than America?"
"Why do we increasingly hear news reports about violent crimes in public schools?"
"What does "diversity" education have to do with learning how to read, write and do math?"
"Why are our nation's top business recruiting employees from nations other than America?"
"Why is the NEA union vehemently opposed to private and home education?"
"Why are unions even allowed in a government funded education system? (note: government funded = public funded tax dollars)"
"Why do American citizens keep pouring more and more money into a "broken" system?"
"Is there any government funded program that has been implemented into our public school system in the past decade that has changed America's education system for the better, ie. higher SAT & ACT test scores, businesses clamoring for American high school and college graduates? How about the past two or even three decades? - I want hard facts and data to back up responses."
"Why does the public school teacher, whose child plays sports with my child, have to "teach the test" instead of teaching the reading, writing and arithmetic skills that would allow her students to pass the test?" (note: in our district, approximately 85 days of a 180 day school year is spent "teaching the test")
"Why does a public school need a psychologist and/or therapist on campus?"
"Why was JP's 7th grade English teacher not fired for accepting writing assignments with the following, "I am not interested in this topic. That's all I have to say about it."? (yes, my JP turned that in for three (3) different writing assignments and received a score of 50 - Quoting the teacher, "well, after all, he turned something in".)"
"How can a teacher respond to a parent, "AB who? I think you've got the wrong teacher. He's not a student in my class", in February - a full five months into the school year. (It turned out that I had not contacted the wrong academically gifted, dual credit high school teacher. AB had an A average and was not any trouble = invisible.)"
"Why is it necessary to teach topics commonly referred to as "moral issues" in a public school setting? Isn't that the responsibility of individual families based on their personal convictions?"
"Why are American colleges and universities regularly increasing the size, number and availability of "remedial" English and math classes?"
"In our district, high school students attend 8 classes per day. Since when does reading (1) + writing (1) + arithmetic (1) = 8?"
"Who on earth decided a child needed to be taught how to move by implementing physical education?" (I can't get my children to stop moving).
"When they receive more than $7,000 per year, per student in pubic tax dollars to educate children, why do public schools hold fund-raisers? What are they doing with the $7,000 per year, per student?" (AB's graduating class = approx. 1,150 students x $7,000 = $8,050,000 - that was just the 12th graders in one school.)
"Why is public education promoted as a means to end poverty and crime when poverty and crime rates among publicly educated citizens are rapidly increasing despite more programs and higher attendance?"

I recently read an article by David Ayers printed in 1994, entitled Public Education is Doomed. (http://www.home-school.com/Articles/PubEdDoomed1.html , http://www.home-school.com/Articles/PubEdDoomedII.html ). I recommend that any one with an interest in education read this article. When asked, "Why do you oppose public education?" My answer is simple, "Given it's track record, why would I support it?"