ABSTRACT
This chapter discusses that in the United States, the educational finance monopoly (EFM) besetting people contributes directly to an ethic of the lowest common denominator, then to ethical relativism, and to a moral vacuum in the educational environment fostered by the monopoly's schools. It discusses that democracy as a political form naturally gives rise to social pluralism, which pluralism will reflect the multiple values and value-systems evolved by free peoples. Because of EFM, most American students, nearly 90 percent of them, are economically forced by it to attend state-provided public schools. This sets in place several dynamics that contribute to ethical relativism. In a modern, free, pluralistic society, universally held values are few, they are generic, and they do not provide a firm basis for rigorous ethical guidance. The chapter observes that the whole of life is a life of choosing, differentiating among optional actions precisely on value grounds.
