I had this conversation a while ago and didn’t get around to posting it. It was in response to some sort of support for public school. It didn’t go well for Toast Ghost.

Me: The problem is you can’t please everyone, but you still force everyone to pay for public school whether they like it or not under threat of having their home confiscated. Every subject is political and religious, or at least has religious presuppositions and political implications, including math. The answer is to end public school.

Toast Ghost: Makes sense to me. An uneducated population is much easier to control. You are good at this authoritarian thing!

Me: Public school is what’s leading us to an uneducated population.

Could you explain how me being in favor of not making people pay for the government schooling of other people’s children makes me an authoritarian?

Toast Ghost: … long-term thinking isn’t really your thing is it? By the way… The explanation is kind of in the joke. Do you get joke? Wait… It does require a basic education to understand some jokes. You are against basic education. Answered my own question there.

Me: I don’t “get joke”.

Do you think government schooling is the same as education? Is it possible to be educated apart from public school?

Toast Ghost: … The truth is that you either educate your youth or you deal with the consequences. Obviously leaving education up to parents is a very bad idea… there are a lot of stupid people out there who have stupid and dangerous ideas like getting rid of social responsibility… Craziness.

Me: You said, “there are a lot of stupid people out there…” But, public school is so great and it’s the only option, even though it’s produced a lot of stupid people, right? We should definitely not explore other options, right? What percentage of parents would you say don’t care about their kids’ education?