By Henry Lever via Mises Wire | January 28, 2025
As we begin the new year, pessimism is rife in the liberty movement. Many are struck by a pervasive and overwhelming feeling that the enemies of freedom are winning and our movement is in disarray. However, not all news from recent times has been grim. A particular sphere of American politics stands out as a place where liberty is winning.
The first half of the 2020’s has seen an enormous exodus from the government education system. While decreasing enrollment numbers can be partially attributed to a decline in birthrates, enrollment in private schools and home education is certainly a major factor. In fact, this movement away from government education is so drastic, that many public schools are being forced to consider shutting down entirely.
This should be cause for tremendous optimism. Public education is an obstacle to liberty, as it has morphed into an entity promoting state control. We understand that compulsory schooling—particularly when controlled by the government—is a dangerous and vile practice which violates the rights of both children and parents and serves to strengthen state power through propaganda.
One noteworthy aspect of this trend is that it is taking place in a market which is decidedly unfree. At all levels of government, control over the education of children is viewed as a valuable weapon, and anything which challenges the status quo is rightly considered a threat. This makes it all the more remarkable that various forms of market-driven education are managing to outcompete their state-run counterparts.
To those with a sound understanding of economics, this development is actually not that surprising. Due to its market-driven nature, the alternative education ecosystem has some inherent advantages over public school from a consumer perspective. The very term “alternative education” conceals within it a dizzying array of choices. It is an umbrella term that covers all non-state education, from homeschooling to traditional brick and mortar private schools.
Microschools in particular have benefited from the post-covid exodus. When one considers the breadth of choices offered, the appeal of the industry as a whole makes sense. The different products offered ensure that any family can find the right solution, no matter how unique. Still, in most states, public school holds the advantage of having already been paid for with money stolen from taxpayers, whereas private education must be funded out of pocket. With this in mind, non-state education options must fight to differentiate themselves from the government-run alternative, which most still view as the default option. Thankfully this is being done with great success.
Flexibility is the classic way non-state education options give themselves a market edge. While traditional private schools often recreate the same environment of their government-funded counterparts, microschools and homeschooling have successfully marketed themselves as more flexible options. It isn’t overly difficult to find stories of children being mistreated by a system which is overly rigid, only to find success when given more customizable options. Families struggling with illness or disability are able to improve their situation by setting their own schedule, unshackled by government regulations that are more concerned with making sure children spend the appropriate amount of time in a seat than the overall quality of their lives.
Technology has also been a major boon to the market in this fight. As the digital world cements its place in our lives, public school looks largely the same. Technology can do little to advance the experience of an institution married to an antiquated system. When new technology is implemented, it is often done so in ways that are directly adversarial to the students. Like in other aspects of American life, the best use the state can find for digital technology is to engage in invasive spying. In contrast, the education freedom movement has shown a willingness to embrace new developments as a way to get ahead. This is particularly true of AI. Tobin Slaven, the founder of Acton Academy Fort Lauderdale, also founded vPal Labs. They are working to create AI personal assistants who can function as tutors. This is being done in collaboration with Pathfinder AI, who are already using AI to deliver personalized learning experiences and advertise to microschools directly on their homepage.
Even in higher education, technology is starting to deliver a long-needed shake up. At the time of writing, Western Governors University is the largest university in the US by enrollment. As a fully-online, self-paced college, this school represents the tides of change. Student’s pay per semester and work through mastery-based programs that never force them to spend time learning things they already know. This allows students to earn bachelor’s and even master’s degrees in as little as 6 months for as little as $6,000. The university has been so wildly successful, that the Department of Education attempted to destroy it.
The school was said to have been ineligible to receive student aid money due to their unconventional approach and were set to be fined $713 million dollars. Fortunately, the Trump administration chose not to follow through. Regardless, competency-based education has clearly struck fear into the hearts of American academia, as state-backed systems repeatedly come up short compared to more modern, and more capitalistic, counterparts.
Perhaps the best news is that the education freedom movement has been given a new weapon in its quest to sell people on public school alternatives. That weapon is ideology. The pandemic brought about a mass awakening as parents who had previously looked the other way were forced to confront what was happening at their child’s school. Fear of gender ideology in particular caused conservative parents to look for other options. Concerns such as these can become a highly effective marketing tool.
The advocates of free markets have been given an opportunity to make freedom itself a popular product. By tying the issues with public education to the fact that it is government run, an entire generation of disgruntled parents can be turned against public schools as a concept. Selling alternatives as being free of state propaganda will be an appealing prospect for the growing number of Americans who understand that their elected leaders hold them in contempt.
Obviously, not everything is sugary sweet. There is tradition and inertia that protects public schools from change, and—while the enemies of liberty are arrogant—they won’t stay asleep forever. Attempts to liberalize the education market will be met with stiff resistance by those who have a vested interest in teaching Americans to love their government. Regardless, it cannot be denied that we are living in a time of massive opportunity.
We have a chance to land deadly blows against one of the state’s greatest weapons. It is a chance to protect children from a vicious institution, while teaching parents just how vicious it truly is. We can only hope that entrepreneurs continue to seize the moment, so that the eventual destruction of our government’s education monopoly can be the victory from which all other victories follow.
Henry Lever is a cybersecurity professional and anarcho capitalist currently living in Arizona.
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