Why the need for public schools

UC Law professor says government has long been a partner with private industry to achieve goals

Joseph Tomain, Dean Emeritus and the Wilbert and Helen Ziegler Professor of Law at the University of Cincinnati, and Sidney Shapiro, a professor at Wake Forest University, discuss social reformer Horace Mann’s common school movement and how abandoning it could impact education.

Tomain and Shapiro penned an article in the online publication, The Conversation, about the consequences of the federal government withdrawing support of public K-12 education. The two academicians warned against attacks on the Department of Education. They cited material from their 2024 book, “How Government Built America.”

The government has always been a significant partner with the private market system in achieving the country’s fundamental political values. Public education has been an important part of that partnership, according to Tomain and Shapiro.

Read the full article republished in the Atlanta Daily World online.

Learn more about UC Law Professor Joseph Tomain online.

Featured top image of a public school classroom by Istock.

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