Public schools are bad and should not exist.

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So long as we draw a distinction between government as the service provider, and government guaranteeing primary and secondary education free at the point of delivery, then I don't disagree.

I don't particularly care whether schools are run by the government, or by independent bodies. But I am fervently of the view that government must:

1) pay for the primary and secondary education of every child (and non-graduated adult, for that matter),
2) set educational standards to be met by all schools (learning outcomes and graduation requirements)
3) ensure that every student has reasonable access to a secular school.

But within that framework, I am perfectly content for those objectives to be met by independent schools (and for that matter, parochial schools, provided that they are not the only game in town).

That is one thing I've been reading, parents have increasing been giving up on public schools, looking at other options. Whether it be home schooling, charter schools, private class learning, or even internet teaching, reforms are needed in how we teach our children - in particular with our changing work environment. The young need to taught how to be more entrepreneurial. The big box schools are not getting the job done.

Recall this article about fewer kids attending public schools these days.

"Americans Flee Public Schools"

http://blogs.the-american-interest.com/ ... c-schools/

And sadly another teaching scandal has happened.

"Teachers Implicated in Memphis Cheating Ring"

http://blogs.the-american-interest.com/ ... ting-ring/

From Walter Russell Mead's sight:

the religious right says if you can't afford $20,000 a year to send your kid to private school then the kid should do without an education and be illiterate.

Your post implies that parents bickering over curriculums is the core problem with education. At best, its a relatively minor one. The real problem is that after the curriculum has been determined (albeit with some dissenting parents, no doubt), schools are often ineffective at teaching the curriculum.

Systemically eliminating public schools implies one,or a combination, of three alternatives:

a) eliminate formal education - very bad for society in the long term

b) replace public schools with private schools - which will also have parents bickering over the curriculum

c) replace public schools with home schooling - which has a whole host of problems not the least of which is kids not only being disadvantaged in life when their parents have poor parenting skills (which we already have today), but kids being further disadvantaged in life when it turns out their parents also have poor teaching skills and/or poor educations themselves, or are working 2-3 jobs already and don't have time to spend 6-7 hours a day with their kids teaching them (which, by the way, results in kids having all that time free to get into trouble). Even the worst teachers at least had to achieve some minimal level of certification, a level which many parents could never hope to achieve themselves.

Public schools are the answer some of the time.
Private schools are the answer some of the time.
Home schooling is the answer some of the time.
None of the above are the answer all of the time.

I got all of my K12 schooling from public schools in three school districts. The first two where within the same county and the third was in another state. Some of them were better than others. The one city school district was the worse of the three. Half of the student body belonged in a juvenile detention center and the teachers were mostly a**holes (union a**holes at that) even when they weren't on strike.