I'm sure that I am guilty of bias. My analogies are intended to produce discussion and overstate my points.
Stlukesguild, I would like to know if you recognize the general crutch problem - that overuse of a crutch can damage a person. I'd guess you understand it, but you're sure that it doesn't happen to any degree with school, and we just disagree about that. I tend to see it happen everywhere. This makes me a little less helpful toward others than is optimal, but my fear of hurting by helping is so great that I would much prefer to err on the side of helping too little than of helping too much. The symptoms of helping too much grow slowly and insidiously infect motivation and adaptability. The symptoms of helping too little are easier to see and usually come early enough to rectify by helping more. You can always add salt, but removing it proves difficult. Watching the state take my money (by force) and use it to inadvertently hurt by helping is frustrating, so I visit these forums and try to help people like Virgil spread the ideas of freedom and individual responsibility and people like Andave promote the idea of homeschooling.
