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Culture, Choice, and Citizenship: Schooling Private Citizens in the Public Square

Meira Levinson

in The Demands of Liberal Education

Analyses the relationships between cultural coherence, cultural pluralism, civic education, and autonomy. Section 4.1 argues that the skills, habits, values, and beliefs that underlie the capacity ... More

Analyses the relationships between cultural coherence, cultural pluralism, civic education, and autonomy. Section 4.1 argues that the skills, habits, values, and beliefs that underlie the capacity for autonomy also underlie the capacity for citizenship; hence, education for citizenship and for autonomy are mutually reinforcing. Section 4.2 develops an ‘English’ model of political liberal education, contrasting it with an ‘American’ model developed in Section 4.3 and a ‘French’ model in Section 4.4. Section 4.5 concludes that all of these political liberal models of education, which attempt in different ways to balance cultural coherence and civic virtue without promoting autonomy, are inferior—on both theoretical and empirical grounds—to weakly perfectionist liberal education.Less

Making Sense of It All: Transforming Political Theory into Educational Policy

Meira Levinson

in The Demands of Liberal Education

Addresses the practical implementation of the liberal educational ideal. Section 5.1 identifies the ways in which choice, cultural coherence, and citizenship fit together within an autonomy‐driven ... More

Addresses the practical implementation of the liberal educational ideal. Section 5.1 identifies the ways in which choice, cultural coherence, and citizenship fit together within an autonomy‐driven education, and also discusses three other possible liberal or educational aims that should potentially help guide the implementation of the liberal ideal: economic competitiveness, democratic self‐reflection, and equality. Section 5.2 constructs a public policy of liberal education, arguing for strict state regulation of schools (both public/state and private) as well as for school choice in the form of controlled choice. Section 5.3 discusses the changes that would need to take place in the areas of legislation, pre‐service and in‐service teacher training, public dialogue, school accountability, and cultural attitudes about education in order to make the liberal educational ideal a reality, especially in the US and Britain.Less

Modifying the Liberal Educational Ideal

Meira Levinson

in The Demands of Liberal Education

Examines four objections stemming from the clash of theory (that liberalism requires the institution of compulsory, autonomy‐driven schools regardless of parental preferences) and intuition (that ... More

Examines four objections stemming from the clash of theory (that liberalism requires the institution of compulsory, autonomy‐driven schools regardless of parental preferences) and intuition (that liberalism entails democratic control over schools and sensitivity to parents’ preferences). It argues that the ‘detached school’ should, with minor modifications, continue to provide the basis for the liberal educational ideal. Section 3.1 addresses concerns about state tyranny, arguing that the detached school both counters the threat of parental tyranny and ensures a substantive pluralism among schools and within society. Section 3.2 shows that detached schools can promote effective parental involvement. Section 3.3 addresses the hidden curriculum of schools, while Section 3.4 discusses the ability of the detached school to help children develop cultural coherence and a stable sense of identity as well as a capacity for choice.Less

MULTINATIONAL CIVIC EDUCATION

Kevin McDonough

in Citizenship and Education in Liberal-Democratic Societies: Teaching for Cosmopolitan Values and Collective Identities

The essays in Part III of the book, on liberal constraints and traditionalist education, argue for a more regulatory conception of liberal education and emphasize the need for some controls over ... More

The essays in Part III of the book, on liberal constraints and traditionalist education, argue for a more regulatory conception of liberal education and emphasize the need for some controls over cultural and religious educational authority. Kevin McDonough’s essay, on multinational civic education, develops a conception of this that allows for both federal and minority national groups to reinforce conditional civic attachments. This ‘conditionalist’ view of civic education is necessary in multinational federal societies, he argues, because appeals to one set of national attachments may exacerbate rather than alleviate particular injustices in particular circumstances. For example, McDonough argues that when aboriginal women and children are the victims of injustice at the hands of tribal institutions and leaders, they must be able to appeal to their fellow non-aboriginal citizens and federal institutions for assistance, although this is not possible unless citizens – aboriginal and otherwise – have come to regard attachments to the minority nation as conditional rather than absolute. Similarly, citizens whose primary identification is to the federal society must be able to recognize that some of their fellow citizens legitimately have a minority nation as the object of their primary loyalty – otherwise, efforts to support federal intervention in minority national affairs will be vulnerable to forces of cultural insensitivity and arrogance, rather than of liberal justice.Less

RELIGIOUS EDUCATION IN LIBERAL DEMOCRATIC SOCIETIES: THE QUESTION OF ACCOUNTABILITY AND AUTONOMY

Walter Feinberg

in Citizenship and Education in Liberal-Democratic Societies: Teaching for Cosmopolitan Values and Collective Identities

The essays in Part III of the book, on liberal constraints and traditionalist education, argue for a more regulatory conception of liberal education and emphasize the need for some controls over ... More

The essays in Part III of the book, on liberal constraints and traditionalist education, argue for a more regulatory conception of liberal education and emphasize the need for some controls over cultural and religious educational authority. Walter Feinberg’s essay, on religious education in liberal–democratic societies in relation to the question of accountability and autonomy, takes up the issue of educational constraints with respect to religious schools in such societies. While he allows that religious education need not be inconsistent with liberal goals, and can find reasons why some liberal societies feel it appropriate to provide public support for religious schools, he argues that certain conditions can render such support tyrannical and unwise. He concludes that if the conditions are appropriate for public support of religious schools, then there should also be significant public control. After an introduction in Section 14.1, the chapter has six further sections: Section 14.2 discusses some of the potential lines of conflict between religious liberal education and public (common) education; Section 14.3 examines a number of arguments that have been advanced in support of public funding for religious schools; Section 14.4 looks at a potentially fundamental reason for denying public funding for religious schools – that it would be tyrannical to take tax funds from one believer in order to advance the beliefs of another – and the implications as regards the First Amendment to the United States Constitution; both Sections 14.4 and 14.5 suggest some of the conditions that need to be satisfied in order to supply this funding – primarily that it must be predicated on the school advancing individual and social autonomy; Section 14.6 briefly suggests what such an arrangement might entail for the traditional way in which the public/private divide is conceived; Section 14.7 concludes.Less

TEACHING COSMOPOLITAN RIGHT

Rob Reich

in Citizenship and Education in Liberal-Democratic Societies: Teaching for Cosmopolitan Values and Collective Identities

The essays in Part III of the book, on liberal constraints and traditionalist education, argue for a more regulatory conception of liberal education and emphasize the need for some controls over ... More

The essays in Part III of the book, on liberal constraints and traditionalist education, argue for a more regulatory conception of liberal education and emphasize the need for some controls over cultural and religious educational authority. Rob Reich’s essay, on multicultural accommodations in education, proposes that the liberal state needs to rethink its commitment to cultural groups whose educational agendas advance the integrity of the group over and against the freedom and equality of its members, and that thus educate in ways that place strict limits on the autonomy and critical thinking skills of their members. He aims to examine two prominent defenses of multiculturalism, showing how each pays insufficient attention to the tension between cultural groups: Avishai Margalit and Moshe Halbertal argue that, because individuals have a ‘right to culture’, the state must grant groups a status that may flout the rights of some individuals, conditioned on the ability of those individuals to exit; Will Kymlicka, in a far more sophisticated version of multiculturalism, defends cultural rights, and accommodations, but only for those cultural groups that are themselves internally liberal (except in rare circumstances) and that take seriously the value of personal autonomy. Reich contends that, while the freedom to exit from a group is important, the group rights supported by Margalit and Halbertal may serve to disable or severely impoverish the ability of children to exit from groups; further, he contends that, while personal autonomy is important, Kymlicka’s conception of autonomy is unsatisfactory and, moreover, his defense of rights to separate schooling for national minorities and to educational exemptions for some polyethnic groups leaves him open to the same critique about exit that Reich levies against Margalit and Halbertal. Along the way, Reich comments on the odd fixation of multiculturalists on rights of exit.Less

The Development of Autonomy

Meira Levinson

in The Demands of Liberal Education

Discusses the relationship between the exercise and development of autonomy and analyses their implications for liberalism and liberal education. Section 2.1 proves that since the liberal state ... More

Discusses the relationship between the exercise and development of autonomy and analyses their implications for liberalism and liberal education. Section 2.1 proves that since the liberal state values adults’ exercise of autonomy, it must also value children's development of autonomy. Section 2.2 argues that state paternalism towards children, in particular, state efforts to help children develop the capacity for autonomy even against their parents’ wishes, is consistent with liberal principles. Section 2.3 argues that parents have privileges rather than rights to control their children's upbringing, but that these privileges nonetheless offer ample scope for parents to exert independent paternalistic control. Finally, Section 2.4 argues that the liberal ideal of autonomy not merely permits but requires the intrusion of the state into the child's life, specifically in the form of compulsory, ‘detached’, autonomy‐driven schools.Less

LIBERALISM AND GROUP IDENTITIES

Stephen Macedo

in Citizenship and Education in Liberal-Democratic Societies: Teaching for Cosmopolitan Values and Collective Identities

The essays in Part III of the book, on liberal constraints and traditionalist education, argue for a more regulatory conception of liberal education and emphasize the need for some controls over ... More

The essays in Part III of the book, on liberal constraints and traditionalist education, argue for a more regulatory conception of liberal education and emphasize the need for some controls over cultural and religious educational authority. In the last chapter, on liberalism and group rights, according to Stephen Macedo, while the commitment of liberalism to individual freedom and equality is far more easily reconciled with group-based remedies for group-based inequalities than the critics of liberalism allow, the liberal commitment to freedom of association imposes limits on group recognition by insisting on intragroup openness and diversity. The chapter has two main parts. Section 15.1, Liberalism, Education, and Group Identities, rebuts the charge that a liberal public philosophy embraces a narrow individualism that is incompatible with tackling group-based forms of inequality, and surveys some of the myriad liberal reforms of the 1950s, 1960s, and 1970s that promoted more equal respect for differing group identities, especially in schools. Section 15.2, Special Exemptions and the Rights of Traditional Communities, focuses on the difficulties raised by “traditionalistic” groups that seek special accommodations in part because they reject liberal values of equal freedom for all, and makes the point that a liberal regime should not seek to be equally hospitable or accommodating to groups that accept and those that reject educational policies designed to promote the equal freedom of all persons; various examples are presented and discussed.Less

LIBERAL EDUCATION: THE UNITED STATES EXAMPLE

K. Anthony Appiah

in Citizenship and Education in Liberal-Democratic Societies: Teaching for Cosmopolitan Values and Collective Identities

Anthony Appiah’s essay on liberal education in the United States begins by identifying a distinctive feature of classical liberalism – namely, that the state must respect substantial limits with ... More

Anthony Appiah’s essay on liberal education in the United States begins by identifying a distinctive feature of classical liberalism – namely, that the state must respect substantial limits with respect to its authority to impose restrictions on individuals, even for their own good. Nevertheless, Appiah points out, the primary aim of liberal education is to ‘maximize autonomy not to minimize government involvement’. Most of the essays in this volume, including Appiah’s, are attempts to address the question of what the liberal commitment to maximize personal autonomy means when it comes to the teaching of what Appiah refers to as ‘identity-related claims’. The aim of this chapter is to suggest how one might begin to think about some questions in the philosophy of education, guided by the liberal thought that education is a preparation for autonomy, and to show that this tradition is both powerful enough to help with this difficult question and rich enough to allow answers of some complexity.Less

“MISTRESSES OF THEIR OWN DESTINY”: GROUP RIGHTS, GENDER, AND REALISTIC RIGHTS OF EXIT

Susan Moller Okin

in Citizenship and Education in Liberal-Democratic Societies: Teaching for Cosmopolitan Values and Collective Identities

The essays in Part III of the book, on liberal constraints and traditionalist education, argue for a more regulatory conception of liberal education and emphasize the need for some controls over ... More

The essays in Part III of the book, on liberal constraints and traditionalist education, argue for a more regulatory conception of liberal education and emphasize the need for some controls over cultural and religious educational authority. Susan Okin, in her essay on group rights, gender, and realistic rights of exit, is mostly concerned, not with the oppression of traditional groups by the liberal state, but with the oppression of individuals, and especially of girls and women, by the traditional community. She is critical of those liberal theorists who argue that a right of exit is sufficient to qualify a cultural or religious group for special recognition in liberal societies, and to counter these views, she notes that the unequal treatment of girls and women can mean that even though they may have a formal right to exit a group, their actual opportunities for doing so are far less adequate than those of their male counterparts. She holds, then, that the right of exit is not sufficient and that the liberal state should have a higher requirement, namely, that girls and women should be treated fairly within the group and thus should be able to take advantage of any formal right of exit. The chapter is arranged in three sections: Section 12.1, Gender and Other Forms of Inequality in Group Rights Theories, shows, by looking at three examples of liberal defenders (as exemplified by Joseph Raz, William Galston, and Chandran Kukathas) of group rights, that they tend not to take gender inequality seriously when considering group rights and limitations; Section 12.2, Cultural Factors Affecting Women’s Realistic Rights of Exit, specifies and discusses a number of reasons that contribute to women being significantly less able than men, in many cultural contexts, to chart their own courses of life outside their community of origin; and Section 12.3. Rights of Exit and Realistic Rights of Exit for Women, concludes that the theories examined contain several problematic elements concerning rights of exit for women.Less

BETWEEN STATE AND CIVIL SOCIETY: EUROPEAN CONTEXTS FOR EDUCATION

Joseph Dunne

in Citizenship and Education in Liberal-Democratic Societies: Teaching for Cosmopolitan Values and Collective Identities

Joseph Dunne’s essay begins by examining the ways in which schooling in modern liberal–democratic societies tend to function as the agent of cultural homogenization and alienation, and thus block ... More

Joseph Dunne’s essay begins by examining the ways in which schooling in modern liberal–democratic societies tend to function as the agent of cultural homogenization and alienation, and thus block liberal–democratic efforts to offer meaningful recognition of local cultures and to promote the skills and dispositions required for participatory democratic citizenship. The danger here, Dunne points out, is that when the homogenizing elements of modern schooling become dominant, they might serve to encourage an ‘insouciant cosmopolitanism that may fail to meet people’s needs for identity (and by this failure help open the door to the very xenophobic nationalism it wishes to repudiate)’. The chapter concludes by reflecting on some possible educational responses that might offer some hopeful ways of addressing such dismal extremes. In particular, he is interested in the educational possibilities offered by a reconfiguration of national identities and state institutions in the emerging European Community in the context of national, cultural, and religious strife that currently besets Northern Ireland. Thus, like Waldron, Dunne sees local cultural identities – be they national, religious, or cultural – as complexly related to, but potentially compatible with, cosmopolitan historical forces.Less

SHOULD WE TEACH PATRIOTIC HISTORY?

Harry Brighouse

in Citizenship and Education in Liberal-Democratic Societies: Teaching for Cosmopolitan Values and Collective Identities

Harry Brighouse’s essay concludes Part I of the book by taking up one aspect of the task of clarifying the role of common education, by applying it to the teaching of patriotism in public (common) ... More

Harry Brighouse’s essay concludes Part I of the book by taking up one aspect of the task of clarifying the role of common education, by applying it to the teaching of patriotism in public (common) schools. He asks whether liberal and cosmopolitan values are compatible with a common education aimed at fostering patriotic attachment to the nation. He examines numerous arguments recently developed to justify fostering patriotism in common schools from a liberal–democratic perspective, and finds them all wanting. However, even if liberal–democratic arguments for teaching patriotism could be found that withstand the criticisms he advances, Brighouse argues that common schools should avoid using history as the vehicle for fostering patriotic loyalty, since even the most honest, clear-sighted, unsentimental attempts to teach national history are likely to degrade and undermine the other purposes that teaching history properly has. The chapter proceeds as follows: Section 6.1, discusses briefly the justifications of patriotism and the further arguments that patriotism is something that should be taught to children in school – and in particular the argument that history is an appropriate vehicle for teaching it; Section 2 casts doubt on the arguments for patriotism and even more doubt on the idea that it should be taught; Section 6.3 argues that history is a discipline particularly inappropriate for conveying patriotic feeling; Section 6.4 concludes.Less

Culture and Anxiety

Alan Ryan

in The Making of Modern Liberalism

In this chapter, the author reflects on culture and what he calls “liberal anxieties.” He begins with a little autobiography, mentioning his education to make a general point about the idea of ... More

In this chapter, the author reflects on culture and what he calls “liberal anxieties.” He begins with a little autobiography, mentioning his education to make a general point about the idea of meritocracy and the pursuit of excellence. Liberalism has a natural affinity with meritocracy; it is attracted to an aristocracy of talent and critical of an aristocracy of birth. The author proceeds by discussing three major anxieties from which liberalism has suffered for 200 years, along with the fear of brutalization in Britain and America, anxiety about secularization and disenchantment, and the liberal response to terror. He also examines the interrelationships between politics, culture, and education before concluding with some remarks about the virtues of science and poetry as foundations of a liberal education.Less

Liberal Education

Warren A. Nord

in Does God Make a Difference?: Taking Religion Seriously in Our Schools and Universities

This chapter argues that public schools and universities must take religion seriously for a number of reasons. It begins saying something about what it means to take religion seriously, ... More

This chapter argues that public schools and universities must take religion seriously for a number of reasons. It begins saying something about what it means to take religion seriously, distinguishing among a variety of ways in which students might learn about religion. It focuses on liberal education and its role in facilitating critical thinking. It shows that a liberal education requires that students be initiated into an ongoing conversation about how to make sense of the world—one in which religious voices must be included as live options. It argues that if we take religion seriously, we need not take everything seriously—and attempts to short-circuit the arguments of those who think that religion needn't be taken seriously because it is not intellectually respectable. The chapter concludes with a few comments about the underappreciated virtue of humility in education.Less

Mixing Confucianism and Democracy

Joseph Chan

in Confucian Perfectionism: A Political Philosophy for Modern Times

This chapter elaborates on the relationship between Confucian political perfectionism and democracy, suggesting that the two are complementary and can strengthen each other. Democracy promotes ... More

This chapter elaborates on the relationship between Confucian political perfectionism and democracy, suggesting that the two are complementary and can strengthen each other. Democracy promotes Confucian political ends such as the improvement of people's well-being and directly expresses the Confucian ideal political relationship. Meanwhile, the Confucian perfectionist approach to ethics and politics provides a robust ethical foundation for a well-functioning democracy. The chapter argues that Confucian moral education, which is humanity-based rather than citizen-based, provides a stronger incentive for citizens to cultivate civility than liberal civic education, as well as a more comprehensive foundation of virtues. Confucian political perfectionism can also offer some reflection on how to select virtuous and competent people to serve in politics.Less

Moral, Existential, and Civic Arguments

Warren A. Nord

in Does God Make a Difference?: Taking Religion Seriously in Our Schools and Universities

Chapter 5 argued that a good liberal education must take religion seriously. This chapter considers three other kinds of arguments for requiring students to study religion. First, schools and ... More

Chapter 5 argued that a good liberal education must take religion seriously. This chapter considers three other kinds of arguments for requiring students to study religion. First, schools and universities have a responsibility to educate students morally, both by locating them in traditions and by enabling them to think critically about those traditions, and this can't be done without taking religion seriously. Second, a good liberal education will provide opportunities for students to explore those existential questions about the meaning of life that are inescapable for thoughtful human beings, and this can't be done without taking religion seriously either. Third, there are a set of related civic arguments for requiring some study of religion: students must understand religion to be thoughtful; justice requires that schools and universities take religion seriously; political liberty is incompatible with secular indoctrination; and both civility and respect for other people's rights require that students learn about their religions and religious liberty. Finally, the chapter looks at some remarkable, widely endorsed, common-ground statements that address the importance of studying religion.Less

Complications, Concerns, and Clarifications

Warren A. Nord

in Does God Make a Difference?: Taking Religion Seriously in Our Schools and Universities

This chapter has two main tasks. The first is to acknowledge a complication. It says something about academic freedom and resolves a potential tension between the positions taken in Chapters 5 and 6 ... More

This chapter has two main tasks. The first is to acknowledge a complication. It says something about academic freedom and resolves a potential tension between the positions taken in Chapters 5 and 6 on the one hand, and Chapter 7 on the other. The question is whether teachers have the right to take sides in matters of religion. The First Amendment would seem to forbid this, yet the logic of liberal education might seem to require it (at least sometimes), and academic freedom would seem to protect it (at least sometimes). Second, the chapter addresses some of the most common concerns loosely clumped together under a number of headings: the concerns of religious conservatives, the concerns of religious liberals, the concerns of atheists, and, finally, practical concerns (often coming from teachers and administrators).Less

Study at Home

Edwin L. Battistella

in Do You Make These Mistakes in English?: The Story of Sherwin Cody's Famous Language School

This chapter takes up the emergence of correspondence education as a means of serving workers and others to whom traditional university education was unavailable.