Alliance for the Separation of School & State

Dangers and Problems with Public Schools

In materials published on the Alliance Web site, parents are told about the dangers and problems of public education as well as the benefits to removing the government from involvement with education. The group believes that public education cannot be improved, leaving homeschooling or private schooling the only educational choices for today's youth.

Public school problems listed on its Web site include violence, physical and emotional bullying, cheating and lying, widespread immorality, drugs and alcohol, worldview conflicts, as well as performance issues such as grade inflation and low expectations. Although these problems are troublesome, the organization's literature identifies the real cause of problems in public schools as rooted in two areas: (1) “Public schools are controlled by the government and subject to all the ills of government bureaucracy and power,” and (2) “parents give up their rights when their children cross the threshold of the public school door.”

The Alliance provides numerous reasons as to why school and state should be separated. Material on their Web site maintains that government schooling stands in contrast to the rights upon which the United States was founded; public schools “discourage individuality, innovation, curiosity, creativity and overall excellence”; and public schools “undermine families, other relationships, religious beliefs, values and morality.”

One of the most serious dangers about public schools that concerns the Alliance is compulsory attendance and special interest groups. The Alliance maintains that special interest groups are granted access to children enrolled in public schools due to the government's compulsory schooling laws. Special interest groups are believed to use the power of the federal, state, and local governments to force their message on children, a message that may not be consistent with parental values. Direct access would not occur if children were under their parents' care.

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