I think I wasn't clear on my meaning of "civil liberties".
My meaning was this you can argue the following: That home schooling is a kind of basic human right. That there are some rights that a parent has to determine how their child is brought up.
I'm not making that argument. But I would be interested in hearing it. And hearing a justification for it.
Sounds like the Ursula K. Le Guin story is exploring individual versus group wellbeing. Thanks for posting it, I'll try and read it sometime.
On a personal note: I do know that school can be a horrible place. It can also be a huge time wasting exercise. I intensely disliked it. I'm sorry that you had a bad experience there, schooling can be particularly distressing because it's an experience forced upon you at a young age. I hope you are able to work through your problems.
A few weeks ago, at a local school (in Japan), a teacher beat a child in an after school class with a Kendo stick. The child was in hospital for a month. Very bad things happen at schools...
But... these are all single data points. And I honestly want to understand the wider picture.