Why is it Illegal to Not Send Children to School?

[LilSaihah]

So I dunno about America but isn't it completely legal to not send children to school if you provide adequate homeschooling instead?

And you can also form a private schooling operation if you so choose?

Part of me wonders why there are not more private schooling operations which are entirely driven by online study, with attached teaching studies for the parents.

[Ragedaug]

So I dunno about America but isn't it completely legal to not send children to school if you provide adequate homeschooling instead?

And you can also form a private schooling operation if you so choose?

Part of me wonders why there are not more private schooling operations which are entirely driven by online study, with attached teaching studies for the parents.

I suspect most of this is cost. So in the U.S. there are homeschooling and private schooling options. Even if you take these options you are stuck paying into the public school system for the entirety of your life, so you end up paying double, on top of which, both private school & home school are expensive. Most private schools have per child costs that are equivalent to double an average persons car payments or their monthly mortgage payment. For home schooling, the most expensive part is time as the parent is dedicating their time to teaching a very small group of children, so you can say that's equivalent to an entire paycheck. And like I said, while you are paying these costs, you are still paying for the public school education that your kids aren't getting.

[endersblade]

Y'know, I used to have a very valid argument why it should (and is) mandatory for kids to go to school, but what they teach in school is such drivel at this point that I think kids could learn more by STAYING HOME.

[Deleted]

But why is higher productivity so important? One really only needs to produce for him or herself and that's it. Seems like there is some underlying motive that society wants people to be productive as possible because it pushes societies agenda of expansion.

Then you are free to not be part of society and isolate yourself from all of it's benefits.

OT: Conforming to the system leads you to be more able and apt to particpate, in the system.

It's that simple, really.

[unbound]

Because, it gives your children the possibility of doing better things in their life. This is not a guarantee, but it is much better than the alternative.

The alternative is how things worked long ago. There was no chance of moving up in society if you were poor (there wasn't many in the middle class back then) because you lacked the skills to do any better. You didn't learn how to read, much less the fundamentals of the world around you. If you were born to farmhands, that is all you would likely become yourself.

The name for this education being offered (and forced) on everyone is the foundation for what is called the American Dream. The notion that you can do better if you put effort into it. The reality is that it takes more than just effort...you need that foundation to even have a chance of moving up in life.

The fact that not everyone chooses to do that is irrelevant. It is something that we have decided to offer to everyone.

The sad part is how many idiots there are that think teaching fundamental skills including critical thinking is some kind of indoctrination. Those idiots don't even know what indoctrination really means.

[Rudkobing]

You don't want a society full of ignorant people. It leads to trouble in the future.

[Ratyrel]

But why is higher productivity so important? One really only needs to produce for him or herself and that's it. Seems like there is some underlying motive that society wants people to be productive as possible because it pushes societies agenda of expansion.

The world we live in is based on division of labour and specialisation. It requires cohesion, which is created by shared knowledge. Shared knowledge is created by school systems. What you know makes your world. Having the state determine what its citizens know as baseline is the best way of doing this because there is no alternative, as long as it does not regulate what you are allowed to learn beyond that.