ViolaLee,
Just as you find with almost any political grouping, you will find that
Libertarian beliefs may vary considerably from person to person. You will find
libertarians who believe in minimal government as well as libertarians who are
anarchists or as some prefer to be called "anarcho-capitalists."

There is one defining characteristic that binds them together. That is the
belief it is immoral to initiate the use of force against other people. You must,
rather, persuade them to your viewpoint. This generally means a lack of
government regulation. However, it does not necessarily mean total lack of
government involvement. Courts are believed by most libertarians to be the
proper forum for correcting and preventing such problems as the dumping of
toxic waste. Dumping toxic waste is a clear violation of your neighbors' rights.
Although most libertarians oppose zoning, they do not oppose private
agreements which prohibit the dumping of toxic waste (or parking of junk
cars, or building a non-matching garage) within a particular community. These
are commonly referred to as restrictive covenants.

Many people who are opposed to the libertarian vision make the mistake of
comparing it to an impossible utopia. As if their own vision of government
regulations solving all the problems of the world is a real possibility.
Regulations solve some problems, they create other problems which are often
worse or equally as bad. Take for instance, the FDA. The FDA has arguably
matched the number of lives it has saved by deaths it has caused through
over regulation. Many very detailed scholarly studies are available to show the
net negative effect of government regulation in many areas.

In regards to education, it is most definitely not free. Although some people
are receiving it without paying, they are often getting exactly what they pay
for.

According to a recent column by Vin Suprynowicz, "The New York Times
reported Feb. 27 that fewer than half of American teenagers know when the
Civil War was fought, and one in four believe Columbus sailed to the New
World some time after 1750. About a quarter of the teenagers were unable to
correctly identify Hitler as Germany's chancellor in World War II, instead
identifying him in a multiple-choice test as a munitions maker or premier of
Austria."

I encourage you to take a look at the work of John Taylor Gatto in order to
see a different viewpoint on the value of this free education. In particular, his
book "Dumbing Us Down". The public school system was specifically envisioned
by its creators as a system for keeping the masses under control. If you
doubt this, you have to look no further than the recent 2nd District Court of
Appeal decision in California where they effectively banned home schooling.
Not because of its results - which are indisputably better than the public
school's - but because "A primary purpose of the educational system is to
train school children in good citizenship, patriotism and loyalty to the state
and the nation as a means of protecting the public welfare."

True education wasn't even the primary goal. You will also find that levels of
illiteracy might actually be higher now than before the advent of public
education.