> At that point it becomes a public interest.

This doesn't seem to be so self-evident. Why do I care about the education of those around me?

A well-educated population is generally considered to be a good thing. That’s why schooling is compulsory in almost every country in the world.

This seems to be the conclusion. I’m not sure how people arrive here.

An educated populace...

...generates more economic activity

...understands basic civics and government

> ...understands basic civics and government

The public school system isn't doing that for our fellow citizens already. I fail to see why it would be worse if the failure happens at home rather than in a government building.

My comment was a direct response to the question "why should I care if my neighbors are educated?"

And that's a fair criticism of some public schools. And some home-schoolers. And probably some private schools.

Because they're going to be your neighbors, your co-workers, and your fellow voters.

That's also why you care about the state of the public school system, even if you have no kids (or they don't attend public school).

Sure. I just don’t think this argument that any child who is homeschooled is going to grow up and be a complete idiot and never contribute to society is a good one, especially since all of the comments in this thread making that argument are using anecdotes as evidence. I recently found out the band director at my high school was fucking kids. Can I use that to argue against all public schools? Of course not, so others should not be able to say “well I knew a kid who was homeschooled by a religious weirdo so all homeschooling is bad.”

It’s just odd that so many people here seem to be so in favor of the “sit down and shut up” style of schooling. Isn’t it pretty widely agreed upon that US public schools suck? Don’t you think there are some parents who are homeschooling their children explicitly because they feel their public school would not prepare them to be good members of society?

Yes, absolutely it is pretty widely agreed that US public schools suck. We have cities and states with no math and english competency attainment requirements. Let that sink in!

You're assuming that these existing regulations (assuming the ones in public education) produce a net good. Based on what I'm seeing from here that's not so much the case.