Let’s take a closer look at the options available in a voluntary society. We’ll start with private schools. For the purpose of this essay, I’m going to assume that the current standard of a single teacher teaching a class of 30 students in a building containing multiple classrooms is the market chosen system. It may or may not in fact be what the market comes up with, and we can’t know what that actually is until we have a market in education.
Private schools would be much more affordable than current public or private schools. The competition between schools and teachers for students would drive the quality of education up, as it does in all markets, and because the student is the customer the educational system would be focused on meeting each students needs.
Let’s assume that the school day is broken down into 4 classes, each lasting 1 semester. If the cost to each student per class per semester is $250, paid to the teacher, then the teacher earns $30,000 per semester if the teacher fills all four classes. Much more than a teacher currently earns, and costing a student only $1,000 per semester to attend. We’ll assume the teacher uses the tuition paid directly to them to purchase supplies and facilities, which are also offered on an open market. Rent a classroom for a semester for $6,000. 30 copies of the text book at $100/copy is $3,000. Throw in a supply of paper, pens, pencils and such at $1,000, and the teacher is left with a take home pay of $20,000/semester, or $40,000/year. More than the NH Starting salary of $28,279. Because Textbooks are reusable, the second year the teacher takes home $52,000, which far exceeds the current NH average of $45,263. And all this for a cost of $1,000/student, far, far below the $7,770/student Cheshire County currently averages. Yes, these numbers are arbitrary. The freed market cannot be guessed at accurately. But with competition driving prices and costs down, my scenario is probably much worse for both teachers and students than what would actually occur
But what of quality, you ask. Well, as I just demonstrated, teachers will likely earn more money than currently. This in and of itself will draw better qualified teachers into the field. Teachers will also be competing with each other for students. Those who are best able to engage the students interests and provide the best quality education at the best price will be the most successful. Poor teachers, rather than resting on tenure, will be driven out of the market and will have to find other work, while excellent teachers will be able to command higher tuition. Overall the trend will be toward better quality
Because the students will be customers, providing teachers with income, teachers will tend to focus on meeting student needs. If a student is struggling, the teacher will be economically motivated, in addition to the simple desire to teach, to help the student understand the subject matter. Teachers who fail to teach will soon fail to draw customers, the students.
All told, the private school will allow teachers and students both to excel through lower prices, higher quality and a focus on the student. As an added bonus, people without children, mostly young adults struggling to get started and seniors living on retirement income, won’t be forced to pay for the education of other peoples children at the point of a gun.
