"Further, I would suggest that the increased presence of School Resource Officers in schools, the increased usage of courts for school-related punishment, and t

"Further, I would suggest that the increased presence of School Resource Officers in schools, the increased usage of courts for school-related punishment, and the continued emotional and physical violence experienced by students from their peers show that, indeed, forced participation in government schools does indeed involve violence." This is a pretty bad correlation/causation argument. You're making arguments that only make sense if: 1: The United States is the only country in the entire world with a government-run education system and there are no other examples to look to 2: Every decision made that has negatively impacted our education is the only possible decision that could have been made under the circumstances Neither of these are true. Just because our government has made some really bad decisions doesn't mean that this is the only possible outcome of government-run education. If you look at education rankings globally, the United States is pretty far down the list, and most if not all of the countries above us use government-run education systems. The number one in the world, Finland, prohibits private schools all together. It simply does. not. logically. follow. that the overreach of our criminal justice system is the inevitable result of a government-run education system. You're ignoring so many political realities that are unique to this country. There is nothing hand-waving about saying that your anecdotes are not data. I went to a school that had exactly zero teacher/child sex scandals, can I use that to "prove" that the system is working? No, I can't. Our public education system delegates a LOT of responsibility down the line. The federal government offers some funding that is contingent on certain requirements being met, but the states are responsible for the execution. The states have elected officials and appointed boards of education, but they delegate a lot of decision-making to individual districts, which also have elected and appointed officials. Finally, just because I am defending the idea of government-run education doesn't mean I am defending the implementation of it that we have. Please do not confuse those two distinct positions.