Friday Night Lights Is Killing Education Freedom with Dr. Bradley Thompson

About this episode

Dr. Bradley Thompson discusses the moral implications of government education and advocates for education freedom.

What if government education isn't just failing — but is fundamentally, morally wrong? On this episode of Refining Rhetoric, host Robert Bortins sits down with Dr. Bradley Thompson, political philosopher at Clemson University and executive director of the Snow Institute for the Study of Capitalism, to make the abolitionist case for education freedom. From the moral foundations of laissez-faire capitalism to the great books Lyceum program producing the next generation of principled Americans, this conversation will challenge everything you thought you knew about school choice, government schools, and what the Declaration of Independence actually says about the role of government. Dr. Bradley Thompson spent decades studying government education before arriving at a conclusion that surprises most people the first time they hear it: the government school system isn't just failing — it is immoral by definition, and it cannot be reformed. His case isn't built on frustration with test scores (though he has that too). It's built on the same moral arguments the anti-slavery abolitionists used against chattel slavery: coercion is coercion, and education by the government for the government…

People in this episode

Host: Robert Bortins

Guest: Dr. Bradley Thompson

Topics covered

• education freedom
• government education
• moral arguments
• school choice
• capitalism
• abolitionism

Keywords

• education freedom
• government schools
• moral arguments
• school choice
• capitalism
• Lyceum Scholars Program
• Declaration of Independence

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: Clemson University, Snow Institute for the Study of Capitalism, Lyceum Scholars Program

Books & works: Declaration of Independence

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