I suppose it is inevitable that having more people going to university will not change job prospects very much. After all the presence of more graduates cannot create new "graduate jobs". The same jobs are available whether the applicants have been to university or not because businesses need what they need and those needs do not change when more applicants have more certificates.

Two rather unfortunate consequences flow from this. One is that graduates, like my friend's son, find they are no better placed than they were when they left school; indeed they are in a worse position because they now have heavy debts to pay off. The other is that many first degrees are not valued by employers any greater than they value A-levels, so youngsters with first degrees in nonsense from the new wave of quasi-universities are under pressure to commit more money and more time to obtaining a Master's degree in the hope that it will provide an edge when the time for work comes. That is the course my friend's son is minded to follow because his first degree appears to give him no advantage over a school-leaver.

But this cannot go on with government ordering what is to be taught and what the textbooks must contain. The wielding of political power in the field of education is no less insidious than it would be for government to run the profession of journalism, the publication of books and magazines, and so forth. None of that is acceptable in a genuine free country. Nor should government-run schools be.

Small wonder that among those who do seek employ in the government, too many of them are more than willing to abuse their position instead of think about the responsibilities of their position. More and more it is becoming apparent that while prosecutors have the necessary specialized knowledge of law to perform their job they have no knowledge about the philosophy of the laws they enforce and never stop to consider the ethics of their actions. More and more it is becoming apparent that too many police are no longer different from the criminals they are supposed to stop and are instead merely criminals with official permission to act. Just as the education system fails to provide soldiers, it fails to provide police.

During the classes and discussions that we had, I gained so much knowledge, I found out so much new information, I met a lot of people, I had so much fun, I discovered the others, but in the same time I discovered myself from a totally new perspective, I became more open and more interested in something new, I gain a lot of experience and I even opened up to more … that is why, I’m already having the idea that in several years maybe I will have the possibility to bring a Liberty Camp in Moldova also.

All of this wisdom, acquired through my own years of self-study and hard experience, have driven me to question the wisdom of any educational program consisting of an overstuffed curriculum, breakneck learning pace, and crushing work load. There are alternative ways to learn that give a student much more leeway for choosing courses that could actually deliver more tangible value. I discuss these in my articles and videos.

Science is easy. Not only do we work everyday situations into science lessons (bathtub displacement and volume! Why does a lightbulb glow -- which kind of lightbulb? We did incandescant vs. fluorescent yesterday), but they've got constant questions of their own that turn into "lessons" learned, and they inherited the space obsession from both sides. We watched the first half of Apollo 13 last night, pausing frequently for discussion; second half tonight; then it will be on to The Right Stuff and From the Earth to the Moon, hopefully with a segue into politics and The Moon is a Harsh Mistress resulting).

To suggest, as is done regularly by dinosaurs of the political left, that parents should not be allowed to pay for their children's education or to teach their children at home it to say that the State bears primary responsibility for children. This relegates parents to the role of servants of the State. Government is always at its best when it is reminded constantly, and with penalties for recalcitrance, that it is the servant of the people.

The most fundamental thing the young peasants must be forced to accept is: children who obey authority are good; those who do not are bad. The “teacher” (the “authority” in the classroom) is to be viewed as the sole source of truth and the sole arbiter of justice. The “teacher” has the final decision in everything, his decision cannot be appealed or questioned, and he can reward or punish at whim. Seeking the approval of the authority (via good grades, prizes, praise, etc.) and avoiding the scorn and disapproval of the authority should be the only concern for the little peasants-in- training.

… and I would love to be teaching trombone to a dozen kids between 8 and 80 years old. This town would have a great trombone choir. But no, here you learn trombone in government school when you are 12 and play it for 1/2 hour a day until you are 17. Then put it away forever.

In reality, the central planners who control education investments respond to politics rather than the needs of our children. The reason is simple and understandable: the public education system survives on the largesse of a political system, rather than on the dollars and needs of its customers.

Vouchers are controlled by politicians like any other government program and subject to the same major drawback. The drawback is that when you put politicians in charge of fixing a problem, it immediately becomes a political problem regardless of what it was originally. This rule applies to everything from A to Z—abortion to zoning. You can see examples everywhere you look.