We cannot outsource or offload the responsibility for education to any institution or collection of institutions. Yet, though necessary, institutions will always be insufficient. This is not to deny the necessity of educational institutions-not only as pragmatic necessities for parents who cannot afford to homeschool but also for higher learning of every kind.
Indeed: long is it overdue that we turn our gaze away from the institutional structure and instead towards the individual, the family, and especially the parents who themselves are not only the first teachers of their children, but who ought to teach them always-who ought to be models from which their children learn throughout life. All too rarely, especially as these disputes intensify, do we pause to question our presuppositions concerning the true nature and purpose of education itself. We ask ourselves what curricula should be implemented, what teaching methods are most effective, and how governmental agencies can assist in the growth of educational institutions-we debate the morality of teachers and their influence, the rights to speech and questioning, the difficulty of grading and assessment and so on and on. The contemporary controversy concerning education centers around the institutions tasked with providing it.
