Instruction on the Principles of Freedom

   “Children should be educated and instructed in the principles of freedom.” So said John Adams, Founding Father and 2nd president of the United States. We owe much to the fact that Adams was himself a student of the principles of freedom. He firmly believed that the only way to preserve and protect our American heritage of freedom was to train the next generation in the ways of liberty.

   Predating so-called “public schools” as we know them today, Adams had to have been at least partially and perhaps mainly referring to the role of parents in this education and instruction of children in the principles of freedom.

   As we start the 2019-20 school year, I have to ask myself, do we do a good job of educating and instructing our children in the principles of freedom? Last year, the Wisconsin K-12 public school system had a statewide enrollment of just under 859,000.  Over 122,500 children attended K-12 private school in Wisconsin, and over 21,500 Wisconsin kids were homeschooled.  That’s over 1 million young people in primary and secondary education in Wisconsin last year. And mind you, these children really are our future.

   Were they all learning the principles of freedom, the principle that parents are responsible for their children’s education and have a right to send their children to private school or to home school them? Were the ...