When the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR) was created in 1917, maybe some honest people believed that government-run industries work better than free-market industries. In the USSR, all industries were run by government bureaucrats, and many university-trained experts both inside and outside of the USSR promised superior performance of these industries. The results were extremely disappointing. Since then, we have seen many examples of the failures of government-controlled industries, such as in East Germany, China, and North Korea, among many other examples.
Why have people not learned from this experience? The answer is relatively simple. Unfortunately, some dishonest people benefited from this system; those whose incompetence would never allow them to run companies in free-market economies were able to run companies and other institutions in government-controlled economies. They were also able to control vast resources, which they never earned. People who would never be considered experts in free-market economies got to be the “experts” and dictated to other people how to live.
One way these dishonest people have prevented others from learning from past experience is through controlling information. Recently, we have heard quite a lot about the control of information through companies like Google and Facebook. However, even more extreme control of information is pervasive throughout our education system. Information control through education is even more despicable, as it is targeted at children and young adults, who are more vulnerable because of their limited experience. (For some specific examples of this misinformation, see “Teaching History and Racism” or “Capital Gains Taxes?”)
People too often dismiss the threat of misinformation with claims like “the truth always wins in the end.” However, no evidence is provided to prove this claim, and it is not even clear what is meant by “wins” or “in the end.” Is the failure of the USSR an example of such victory of the truth? That is not something to look forward to. A real victory of the truth would have meant that the USSR, the country founded on lies, would have never been created.
I know from personal experience how hard it is to recognize that what you think you know is not true when most people around you think like you. I have an advantage of having been educated through two somewhat different education systems in the USSR and in the United States. While both systems were/are based on the Prussian education system, the misleading information was somewhat different. Some of my earlier knowledge about Prussia that made it more shocking for me that America uses the Prussian system came from the USSR. Unfortunately, there was a significant overlap in misinformation. Though it has been about 25 years since I received my last degree (PhD in Finance), I am still unlearning the falsehoods I was taught.
About five years ago, I attended a discussion organized by The Heartland Institute and The Federalist Society with a title asking if we should abolish public education. At first, I liked the title, but I did not think that organizers really meant it as a question. I thought it was there just to spark a discussion about the problems with education. However, the discussion changed my opinion. At the end of the discussion, there was a vote on this question. Together with most participants, I voted “Yes.” Just by going through simple arguments, it became clear that one should not condemn children to government-run schooling (or any other government-run industry).
I did not see this before, even though I had all the knowledge necessary to draw this conclusion. Many people have enough information to understand that government interference in education only reduces its quality, but they fail to draw the appropriate conclusion, because from an early age they have been taught that public education is the only way to provide education for everyone. Most never question that belief.
Most people find it hard to change the beliefs they have. That is why people who want to control others want to control what children are taught and how they are taught. Vladimir Lenin is credited with saying “give me just one generation of youth, and I’ll transform the whole world.” Adolf Hitler is credited with “let me control the textbooks, and I will control the state.”
In real life, lies often win when people are not paying attention. Though the benefits of truth are often widely dispersed amongst the population, the benefits of fraud are concentrated among a small number of people who can afford to spend vast resources to spread misinformation as they expect to profit from it. Human overconfidence exaggerates this problem. Too many groups do not want to get rid of this education system, as each hopes that it will be the one to gain control of it. Unfortunately, overconfidence among some humans is extreme.
The education system we have now is not an American education system as some of our educators claim. It is the same Prussian education system that was used in the USSR. (For more information about the Prussian education system see “Transparency at State Universities.”) As time goes on, the results of this education system in the United States are becoming more like those in the USSR. Just as cheating was extremely popular in USSR schools, it has become much more common in U.S. schools, leading to students passing exams without learning.
It is not honest and not beneficial to refuse to look at evidence and continue to engage in wishful thinking. Government bureaucrats have neither the knowledge nor the incentives to run industries well. Adding a few characteristics of free markets without imposing the discipline of free markets simply speeds up the deterioration, as each bureaucrat gains more freedom and competes to benefit themselves at the expense of others. More honest bureaucrats are eliminated by this competition. Unfortunately, that is how we run our education industry now. Thus, we should not be surprised by poor results.
When the government claims to help any industry, it helps specific institutions by providing them with money, monopoly/oligopoly power, or the authority to grant degrees and other certifications that the government recognizes. What happens to the competitors of these institutions? They face unfair competition from government-favored institutions. If government interference is strong enough, the competitors may be destroyed. The resources in the industry go to those with the closest ties with the government bureaucrats—the most corrupt—at the expense of the best. This is not what we want for our education system.
