People are dumb.
I know that’s not the nicest thing to say, but it’s true.
How else to explain how people respond to Ron Paul’s ideas?
Ron Paul says he would get rid of the Department of Education. People instantly become angry. “So you’re against education???” they say, as if Paul has just said the unimaginable.
This leaping to illogical conclusions is fairly common because, as we’ve already established, people are dumb. Frédéric Bastiat observed this more than 150 years ago. He wrote:
Socialism, like the ancient ideas from which it springs, confuses the distinction between government and society. As a result of this, every time we object to a thing being done by government, the socialists conclude that we object to its being done at all.
Obviously, Paul is not against education. He is very much in favor of good education — as I’m sure all thinking people are.
Rather, Paul is against the Department of Education. This is because Paul believes education is better handled on a state level than a federal level.
Taking it a step further, education is better handled on a local level than a state level, wouldn’t you agree?
To give you an example, education in New York City is a whole different animal than education in upstate New York. The weather is different, the transportation is different, the number of native English speakers is different.
The same situation applies to many different states. What about El Paso, Texas, versus Amarillo? Or San Diego, California, versus Eureka? Or Billings, Montana, versus Kalispell?
Is it reasonable to apply the same exact policies and teaching strategies to two very different places with very different populations? I don’t think so. And that’s why locally run education will always be more effective than state-run education, which, in turn, will be more effective than nationally run education.
Paul’s position doesn’t denigrate education, but rather elevates it and puts it back into the hands of the parents whose children are being educated.
And that, I believe, is progress for education.
