I think we all agree with the fact that good education is one of the main driving forces of a country towards development, but that doesn’t stop a lot of people willing to sacrifice the quality of education as long as it is for free (not having to pay for it). The reason why so many people always support this is evidently due to the fact of not having to pay for it, but not because public education is of better quality than private education.
In addition, it is often said that the State is the only one with the capacity to build large numbers of schools and universities, as if that were true or as if the quality of an education depended on the number of institutions built. Being sensible, can an education that is not free (controlled) be fair and of good quality? Let's see an example below.
Imagine a State that declares itself openly Catholic and promotes this religion for its citizens. We can decide to impart education inspired by the ideas and values of Catholicism. What choice will an evangelical, a Muslim or an atheist have if they want an education but do not share Catholic ideas? None, they simply will be unfairly disadvantaged.
But fairness is not the only important thing in education, it is also the quality of it, and this will depend on the values and principles that are promoted in their classrooms because they are the ones that determine the behavior of the citizens. Can an education whose values and principles are imposed by the State be of quality? In my opinion, there is too much risk that the answer can end up being no in too many places.
The biggest risk that runs in a system in which the State exercises a monopoly on education is that said education could never be free (controlled) and independent. There can be no such thing as any kind of autonomy if the State is the one that decides what is taught and how many resources are invested in education.
In a country where the State maintains a monopoly on education, private education can not be cheaper than public education because it is in disadvantage. Public education is subsidized while private education must be governed by the law of supply and demand. In addition, citizens are left at the mercy of a system that leaves the doors open for a totalitarian government to use its control over education to indoctrinate society, as in Cuba and my country Venezuela.
To expect that the education provided by the State to be of good quality without having to pay for it what it is worth, is the same as expecting to have the car of our dreams while pretending that the parents pay for it.
When a society gives the State power over education, it can not expect to receive the knowledge it wants. Nothing is better than having the possibility of choosing between different options and being able to decide the one that suits us as if it were different brands of the same product, and that can only happen in a country where education is free (not controlled) and does not depend on a ministry that imposes its guidelines and allocates the resources.
If we want free and quality education we should stop asking the state to guarantee it, because it will do so at its convenience, not ours.
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