Freedom, Society, and State - Ludwig von Mises Institute

speare, calculus or political theory, not only is formal
schooling a minimum part of their education, it may
wei Ire tar d the ired u cat ion a Ide vel 0 pme n t . Art h u r
Stinchcombe, for example, notes that much of the current
schooling is useless for both the student and pros
pee t i veemp loye r • " Em p loye r s con c erne d wit h securi n g
reI iable workers may require high school diplomas as
evidence of good discipline," he says. "Otherwise they
can train workers better and cheaper than a high school
can, on the job."(26)
What is the libertarian proposal? Very simply,
they argue that education should "be an entirely private
affair." Insofar as there is a demand for education
this would be met on the market just like any othe
r d e man d • But permit ting e d ucat ion tog0 c omme r cia I ,
they believe, would entail a number of consequences.
First, competition between schools to attract customers
would mean innovation in the curriculum as well
as a variety of alternatives. The current conflicts
over such issues as segregated or integrated, liberal
o r v 0 cat iona 1 s c h00 I s wo u I d be sol ved i f eve r yon e cou I d
purchase the type, quality, and quantity of education
he or she desired. Those who wanted vocational educat
ion C 0 u I d 0 b t a i nit 0 nthe rna r k e t wit h 0 utimp e ding the
a b iii t Y 0 f tho sewhod e sir e ali be r a I ed uca t ion from
acquiring it for themselves.(27)
Second, since those who received the service would
be paying for it, the only ones in school would be
those who wanted to learn or, for those who were still
living with their parents, those whose parents felt
they should learn. This, they feel, would all but
el iminate the discipline problems prevalent in today's
publ ic schools. As one libertarian wag remarked at the
h e i g h, t 0 f the studen t rio t s 0 f the 19 60 ' S, n nob0 dyev e r
sits in at Berlitz."(28)
T h i r d, sin c e bus i n e sse s can not a f for d to bor e
their customers or turn out shoddy merchandise, libertarians
feel that there would be a strong pecuniary
inc en t i v e for teachers to prepare good, interest in g
lectures. This would mean that the tenure or status
or ientation of the teaching profession would be replaced
by an ability orientation. Those who could not
teach well, i. e .. were unable to provide their customers
with a high quality service, would soon find themselves
with no students and thus no job in the teaching
profess Ion. (29) As Scot t Bixler notes, "the govern-
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