According to the Department of Education there are over 55 million children enrolled in compulsory education programs in the United States. Another 15 million students attend college. Now consider the following statistics from one of its 2008 publications:

1. About 38% of public schools reported at least 1 incident of school violence to police during 2005-2006.
2. In 2005, 1 in 4 students reported gangs at their schools.
3. From 2003-2004, 1 in 10 teachers in city schools reported that they were threatened with injury by students.

1. 6.5% of students carried a weapon on school property in the 30 days preceding the survey, including guns, knives or clubs.
2. 7.9% of students were threatened or injured with a weapon on school property in the 12 months preceding the survey.
3. 13.6% of students were involved in a physical fight on school property in the 12 months preceding the survey.
4. 25.4% of students were offered, sold, or given an illegal drug on school property in the 12 months preceding the survey.
5. In 2005, students ages 12-18 were the victims of about 628,200 violent crimes at school. This included rape, both sexual and aggravated assault, and robbery.

Public school shootings, stabbings, beatings are no longer an unexpected event. There hasn't been one single year dating back to 1991 without some school shooting incident — Columbine High and Virginia Tech massacres having been the most notorious.

But You Know All This Already...

The response by the State has been the usual effort, on the one hand, at trying to curb the tide through legislation, as illustrated by North Carolina's School Violence Prevention Act that will require public schools to "adopt strong policies against bullying and harassment, including bullying based on sexual orientation and gender identity or expression."

On the other hand, there is the continuous demand for public funds, as evidenced by Chicago public schools chief Ron Huberman, whose strategy to end violence in public school is to ask for $35 million in stimulus package to fund his plan.

Will this response work?

The answer lies in understanding first what public school is and why compulsory education is necessary. Compulsory education is what you and your children live out no less than 180 days of the year, year after year for at least 12 years of your life! So it's worthwhile to understand it.

Then you must make up your mind whether this is the best that you can offer your family. Ask yourself is there any other school choice or are you and your family stuck with no way out?

If you truly care about your future and that of your children, then read on!

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