Separating School & State: How to Liberate America's Families [Hardcover]

Sheldon Richman (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: November 1994

In Separating School & State, Sheldon Richman effectively and comprehensively analyzes the failures of public schooling in America and explains the ideas and ideology behind the case for compulsory education. But beyond a historical interpretation and a critical evaluation of the state of public education in America today, Mr. Richman offers a vision of what a fully privatized educational system might look like--and in what ways it would solve many, if not most, of the problems that parents, students, and even a sizable number of professional educators see as the fundamental shortcomings of the present system. This book moves the debate over education in America to a higher and more fruitful level of discussion.

Editorial Reviews

From Booklist

Yes, that's School & State in the title, not Church & State. Richman pulled his oldest child out of public school and has since seen to all his children's home schooling, or, as he prefers to call it, unschooling. Here he sounds with new vigor the alarm for an old cause--divorcing education and political power. That cause maintains that public schools are coercively financed and administered, regard children as property of the state, undermine parental love and authority, and contradict the entrepreneurial spirit most conducive to economic and social freedom. Richman reargues these positions in the light of the present U.S. predicament, in the process providing, in two chapters worth the book's price, historical summaries of both the proponents and the opponents of public schooling from the late eighteenth century to the present. He concludes with criticism of such current proposed reforms as charter schools and vouchers and with envisioning the benefits of a free market in education and education without schools. This is educational polemics at their most bracing. Ray Olson

Review

"A dynamic new book on compulsory education." -- The Tropical Homeschooler

"A truly engaging book." -- The Michigan Review

"Mr. Richman traces the origins of government schools. The modern concept of compulsory, state-financed schooling arose in 18th-century Prussia. The primary goal was not to educate, but to turn children into pliant citizens who would revere the state.... I also think Mr. Richman is right to fear that state education undermines personal responsibility.... I recommend this book." -- Michael Prowse, London Financial Times 3/13/1995

"Mr. Richman's premise will be a troubling one for many, that state schooling doesn't work because it can't work. He is certainly right. Separating School & State makes it clear that even with the best of intentions, force and compulsion set processes in motion which mutilate family life, replace education with indoctrination, and bring the myth of Procrutes to life. The solutions proposed make such good sense, the 'official' reform crowd should hang its head in shame." -- John Taylor Gatto, New York Teacher of the Year, 1991, and author of Dumbing Us Down

If we needed more proof that government schools are in shambles and that privatization and parental choice are the solutions, this book makes a powerful contribution. It offers both insight and compassionate solutions. -- Walter E. Williams, John M. Olin Distinguished Professor of Economics, George Mason University, and popular substitute host for Rush Limbaugh

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 128 pages
• Publisher: Future of Freedom Foundation (November 1994)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0964044714
• ISBN-13: 978-0964044715
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 6.2 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 15.2 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (13 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,708,448 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

28 of 29 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Interesting, well researched book, November 10, 1999

By 

Kathleen K. Melonakos (Escondido, CA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Separating School & State: How to Liberate America's Families (Hardcover)

Sheldon Richman presents us with a fascinating story here. Why were public schools first founded? Because people were illiterate? No. Records from colonial times show that literacy rates were higher than they are now in some places. There were all kinds of instructors, schools, schoolmasters, tutors, and self-taught leaders like Benjamin Franklin, and Alexander Hamilton, at the time of the American Revolution. There was tremendous resistance, well into the 20th century against government-owned, operated, and controlled "free schools." And no wonder. We now have an established school system that manifests all the problems the Founders saw inherent in an established church. The arguments the promoters gave are presented here, and some of then are pretty scary. The goals of the public school founders had more to do with the state's interests, than children's or family's interests. The idea was to indoctrinate children with the morality preferred by "politically correct" officials of the time. Compulsory laws came in when labor unions wanted to keep kids from competing for jobs. The opponents give their side here, too. Like a lot of people, I did not know much about the history of public schools before I started reading books like this one. I have come to agree with this author. This is an excellent argument for freedom of education, and giving control back to families and parents.

19 of 20 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Passionate Polemic, September 20, 2000

By 

Thomas Kearney - See all my reviews

This review is from: Separating School & State: How to Liberate America's Families (Paperback)

Most of the last three generations of Americans grew up attending public schools, therefore it is unsurprising that so few people question the premise behind it. After all, as Sheldon Richman poinst out in this highly charged book, why is it that we trust the free market to provide us with important things like food and clothing, while we think nothing of permitting education to be a government run enterprise? After reading Separating School & State, it will be hard to look at public education in America the same way ever again.

Richman discusses the origins of public schooling in America, how educators like Horace Mann were influenced by the public schools in Prussia, apparently unaware that the schools there served the function of molding children to be dutiful servants of the state.

My only fault with Separating School & State is that I would like to have seen more discussion about possible free market educational models, but that is probably a book to be written some other day.

Richman's book should be read in tandem with Myron Lieberman's Public Education: An Autopsy. Whereas Richman arouses the passions of those like myself with his take no prisoners approach and his libertarian perspective, Lieberman's prose is much drier as he explains that the public school model is inherently faulty because it is a model that is more concerned with protecting the education providers than in serving the real needs of the education consumers.

18 of 19 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars practically plagiarized, March 9, 2006

By 

Paul B. Dunlap - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Separating School & State: How to Liberate America's Families (Paperback)

First of all, let me say that I'm a staunch Libertarian. I agree with all of Mr. Richman's ideas, I think American education is in drastic need of reform, and I do not believe in government schooling at all. Having said that, this is a horrible book. Most of it has nothing to do with education per se, but is rather a rehash of all of the classic, broad Libertarian arguments. He talks at great length about how privatizing education will give parents greater choice and control over their children's education, the superiority of the market over government control, yada yada. Yes, these arguments apply to education, but they are not specifically about education. Neither is this interesting writing. Anybody familiar with very basic Libertarian ideas will be bored to tears by this book.

Furthermore, Richman's main sources are "Education: Free and Compulsory," by Rothbard, and various works by Gatto. Half of the book is comprised of quotes from these and a few other sources. The other half is Richman's rephrasing of these quotes. I cannot emphasize enough how little Richman adds to the ideas he presents. The reviews below discuss how Richman talks about the history of education, the comparison of church and school, etc. If these reviewers had read "Free and Compulsory," they would have gotten the same discussion at a much deeper level from a much better author. One reviewer mentioned how the format of school, with children in desks being lectured, is a problem. If they'd read "Dumbing us Down," they'd have gotten a better discussion of that from someone with experience. Now, the two aforementioned books are certainly good works, and if you're interested in education, I'd recommend reading them, but you don't need to read Richman's glorified synopsis.

Finally, it's not surprising that Richman doesn't have any original thoughts on education. He's not an educator, he's a writer for a Libertarian think-tank. As such, I should not find it surprising that this book is a rehashing of familiar Libertarian ideas. If you're really interested in the problems of this country's education system, read Gatto, he was a public school teacher for thirty years, and he has very good, credible insights.

PS. The only reason I'm giving this book a second star is for its 20 page appendix that discusses some studies on standardized testing and the relationship between school performance and work performance. It's a good discussion. If the whole book were like it, I might not be so mad I spent fifteen dollars. As it is though, I must recommend emphatically, DON'T BUY THIS.