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RE: Thoughts about education and the state
How about countries like Norway where education is practically free? They seem to have a system that works. Most universities/schools over there are of reasonably high quality.
In addition, most (all?) western states have a separation of church and state so the influence of religion is not that strong on schools.
There are countries in which the government acts responsible and it is all good, Scandinavia being a great example, but that is not the case every time. There will always be risks consisting on them using this power over society to somehow manipulate the way they think.
About Scandinavia, in the case of Finland, I have read about a vouchers system that works similarly to how a free market would work. Not sure about Norway, but either way, there are "good" governments regarding public education. The problem is when a "bad" one takes advantage of it, which is a risk that will always be there.
If you conclude that a state funded education system can function well with a good government then it follows that the government is to blame for a bad functioning state funded education system. So then the root of the problem is the government and not the education system. Or am I overlooking something?
If the State is in control of the education, that society will always have the risk of having their education abused if a totalitarian government comes to power. If that risk is worth having is something that depends on each person's opinions. Of course, for people who have never experience any sort of abuse by their government, it is easy to develop a good level of confidence towards anything run by them.
It is the government, and the potential risk if they have total power.