Better Off Without Them?

From the irascible Theodore Dalrymple, we heard that:

"When we were students, a professor of public health once told us that the death rate declined whenever or wherever doctors went on strike. This was an even stronger argument, he implied, than the purely ethical one against doctors resorting to such action, or inaction. No profession should lightly expose its uselessness to the public gaze. "

Could these principles, by any chance, also apply to state education and the teaching profession? Is it just possible that we would be better of without them?

Brian Micklethwait seems to be thinking along these lines:

"I am more than ever convinced that if the entire state education system were to drop dead tomorrow morning, that would be a great improvement for some people immediately, for many people in a few weeks, for most people in a few months, and for almost everyone in a few years. After a decade, the results would be miraculous."

Dr. Dalrymple's other point about trying to avoid exposing the inadequacy of the profession could also easily apply to schools, and would account for the habit of teachers of choosing to blame families rather than taking the rap themselves.