ILYA SOMIN: Private Schools Increase Political Knowledge and Reduce the Danger of Political Indoctrination. “The evidence suggests that political knowledge is higher among students who attend private schools, even after controlling for various demographic variables such as race and family income. I’m not suggesting that private schools necessarily do a great job of teaching history and civics. But they are, on average, doing a better one than government-run schools. Sending all students to public school would further exacerbate the already severe problem of political ignorance.” Maybe that’s the point of government schools in the first place.