[quote=@catchamber]
1. Say goodbye to your economy, because you just cut off the main source of the GDP: laborers trained in postsecondary fields. Also, the system I've described isn't just for colleges, as it can work for any grade, field, or job.[/quote]

Well if it's not just for college, fine. I don't think your analysis tying GDP to college graduation is accurate -- millennials have one of the highest rates of graduation in EVER, and perform the worst. Outside factors sure -- but that's a stretch on your part and I'm calling it.

[quote]2. Why not K-12, if not K-PhD? Better yet, why not just K-PhD? Actually, why focus on grades, when we can focus on courses and degrees?[/quote]

*shrug* In the context of the conversation, literacy should probably come before a conversation about degrees and certs. otherwise, sure why not.

[quote]3. The DoE needs to be reformed and reduced, but definitely not axed. I can agree that taxes need to go ASAP, because conventional school revenue sources are volatile. However, the idea that the private market will sort the education industry out on its own is laughable without some sort of federal-to-municipal public education system with cheaper but higher quality services than your average private school today.[/quote]

Well in the first place private education outperforms state education like 9/10 times, so it's certainly not LAUGHABLE. But that's not actually the suggestion -- the suggestion is to axe the federal contribution and oversight entirely (over probably some kind of staged withdrawal period) and give everything to the states. Not to privatize, only to de-federalize. States can do whatever they want (and we're more likely to find a good answer if we try 50 times, than if we try once).

[quote]This is bad for everyone, because the economy will contract as the private education industry will exploit the shit out of the even greater scarcity of their services, essentially draining the economy of its seed capital.[/quote]

Right, and federal bureaucracies NEVER exploit the scarcity of their services. At least with private schools there's a recourse. Incidentally -- your suggestion (now that I think about it) is basically homeschooling on crack (albeit with state support) -- which (besides that state support) is about as private as it gets, so.....