Opposition to government involvement in education in the United States

Opposition to public education in the United States comes from a variety of sources and is based on many different rationales. The Alliance for Separation of School & State argues that public schools "discourages individuality, innovation, curiosity, creativity and overall excellence." Jacob G. Hornberger and other libertarians oppose public education on the grounds that it is a welfare program. R. Cort Kirkwood of the American Family Association argues that public schools seek to "hammer the child with values approved by the state" and that using public funds for education is inherently problematic because "everyone cannot agree on what should be taught or what "values," to use the vulgate, should be imparted." In Common Fallacies About Capitalism, Nathaniel Branden notes that although everyone is theoretically allowed to send their children to private schools, "most parents are effectively compelled to send their children to State schools, since they are taxed to support these schools and cannot afford to pay the additional fees required to send their children to private schools." On March 28, 2002, Focus on the Family founder James C. Dobson stated on his daily radio broadcast: "In the state of California, if I had a child there, I wouldn't put the youngster in a public school...I think it's time to get our kids out. And I'm going to get hit for [saying] that." Shortly before his death, Marlin Maddoux wrote Public Education Against America: The Hidden Agenda, which argues that Christians should not educate their children in today's public schools.