Here are the incomparable trio of books on the history of tax supported, compulsory, government indoctrination and coercion with which every informed and educated person should be familiar.
Each one of these excellent volumes in their own unique way, superbly details the little-known, in-depth backstory of how these coercive institutions arose and proliferated.
Murray N. Rothbard, Education: Free and Compulsory
Samuel L. Blumenfeld, Is Public Education Necessary?
Samuel Blumenfeld, Why the Schools Went Public
In the early 1800s, private schools were thriving. Then a small group of wealthy intellectuals decided education must be socialized. And in 40 years they had largely accomplished their goal. Here-for the first time-is the story of their campaign.
John Taylor Gatto, The Underground History of American Education: A School Teacher’s Intimate Investigation into the Problem of Modern Schools
For the record, the author John Taylor Gatto was a retired American school teacher with nearly 30 years’ experience in the classroom, and had written several best-selling books on education. He was named New York City Teacher of the Year in 1989, 1990, and 1991, and New York State Teacher of the Year in 1991.
Prior to 1941 and the attack upon Pearl Harbor resulting in the entrance of America into World War II, children performed the Bellamy salute to the flag of the United States. Francis Bellamy, an avowed Socialist, had composed the Pledge of Allegiance. Bellamy promoted the salute, and it came to be associated with his name. Both the Pledge and its salute originated in 1892. Later, during the 1920s and 1930s, Italian fascists under Mussolini and German National Socialists under Hitler adopted a salute which was very similar. An example of an American classroom executing this Nazi-like salute to the flag is shown below –
