I am not calling on the state to align everyone with my views but to say, “Do not subject me to the opinion of others.”

Frédéric Bastiat
Part 6 of 8
Pamphlets

In this part, Frédéric Bastiat shows how French people are not free to chose the education they give to their children, in two ways. The first issue is financial; given that the family head is paying taxes, he is financing national education – were he to chose a private schooling, he would have to pay twice (the system of vouchers and charters schools in the United States nowadays tries and offers a solution to this issue). The second issue is moral; to the extent that exams, the baccalaureate being the first one of them, are national exams, it is not possible to teach anything else than the government programme to one’s children without placing their future career in jeopardy (this issue is partially solved by multiplying the various topics in France later in the 20th century).

I chose today’s quote because it constitutes a good summary of freedom of speech and freedom of opinion that numerous dictocrats tend to forget as soon as they are in power – freedom of speech is to accept the expression of those with whom one disagrees, not only to have the right to have a diverging opinion oneself.

Other quotes from Baccalaureate and Socialism:
Part 1 of 8 – Part 2 of 8 – Part 3 of 8 – Part 4 of 8 – Part 5 of 8 – Part 7 of 8 – Part 8 of 8