Though the definition of child abuse only specifies physical and sexual harm, it can easily be argued that damage to the psyche can be just as harmful as anything physical. Those who have been picked on in high school can attest to this. Often scars and bruises fade long before a nasty word can. This is why it is important to seriously consider the ramifications that public schooling can have on our children. Public school is a negative environment for developing minds. Most cognitive development occurs during preschool and grade school ages and most children spend the majority of their time in a public school (Most require between 175 and 180 days of school and/or between 900 and 1,000 hours of instructional time per year, depending on the grade level). This means that at the peak time for learning critical thinking, public school children are left blowing in the wind with no emphasis on courses in philosophy or critical thinking required of them, only memorization. The fact is that the government agenda does not care or does not want your children to learn to think for themselves, solve problems or analyze the things they are being taught to memorize. This is obvious by their lack of either 1) knowledge about child cognitive development or 2) their lack of concern for it. Either way, what sane person would allow their children to be left in the hands of someone who is either not qualified or just blatantly neglects them. This article provides a great understanding of a child’s cognitive development. There are many reasons why public school should be considered child abuse. These are just a few: 1) Public School is Unsafe Violence is more prevalent in public schools than in private schools. Even the government has concluded this! Sending your child to an unsafe environment in any other circumstance would be considered child abuse or at least neglect. It is nonsense to exclude this standard for the location in which your child spends the majority of his/her life. Also worth noting, bullying is statistically higher in public schools than private schools, according to a study done by Time Magazine. 2) Public Education Teaches Government PropagandaWhen the government sets the agenda for education they have an obvious bias toward themselves. As humans we have the tendency to hold certain convictions and treat them as facts instead of opinion. Those in government are no exception. They believe what they are doing has a positive impact and they teach this as fact, when most all of their action is either ineffective or harmful. Public education teaches the helpful government theory as a fact and the children retain it as such, never questioning it in the years when they develop most of their opinions and convictions. It states that the government is the most useful resource for those who are poor and under-privileged because some government employees truly believe this to be the case and others just don’t want to lose their jobs. The problem is, there are no courses that teach children to question these assumptions. This is simply counterproductive to the government agenda so they do not offer critical thinking courses, such as philosophy. They simply are taught to regurgitate what is said in order to earn good grades. The bottom line is that children need to learn to think for themselves if they ever hope to develop self-esteem, entrepreneurial success, or let alone raise their own children. 3) Public Education Puts Absolutely No Emphasis On PhilosophyAs stated before, cognitive development is happening largely throughout the age of adolescence. In these early stages of development, why are American’s neglecting the most important gift we can give our children: A THINKING MIND? Because we love our children we should raise them with the ability to think. This will allow them to create a more prosperous society and don’t we want our children to have an easier life than we have had? What is the use in knowing and understanding history, economics, math, science, and even English if one is unable to reflect upon them with proper critical thinking skills? So does the government care about your children? Maybe, but if they do, they are certainly very unqualified for the job. To leave your children in the hands of someone who is unqualified neglects them would, in any other case, be seen as child abuse. Cartoon credit: Martin Kozlowski, published in the Wall Street Journal December 1, 2008.