R: Public Schools are a Public Menace

The United States guarantee - indeed mandate - that all children receive an education. Public education is free and available to all children, and is dedicated to providing children the basic skills and cultural literacy they need to enter the workforce. Yet education is not merely to teach skills; it is meant to form students as persons. Can state-funded schools act as a force for truth, good, and unity in America? Or does American society, as an amalgam of morals and cultures, bring about inevitable conflict in public education?

Moreover, ought parents cede to the government power over shaping their children's minds and hearts? Or should communities educate children, instilling in them the values held by the community?