Choice without markets: homeschooling in the context of private education

Homeschooling is enjoying new‐found acceptance in North America. Drawing on a variety of secondary sources and our own data from Ontario, Canada, we find that homeschooling is growing steadily, and is becoming an increasingly legitimated form of education. To understand these changes, we review prevailing sociological explanations that focus on the rise of neo‐liberal ideology, and pressures of class reproduction and human capital requirements. We document the contributions of these theories and note their limits for understanding the rising popularity of homeschooling. We then situate homeschooling within a broader context of private education, distinguishing segments that encourage market‐consumer, class reproduction, human capital and ‘expressive’ logics. The combination of large investments of time and effort with highly uncertain outcomes makes homeschooling the most expressive form of private education, which we trace to the burgeoning culture of ‘intensive parenting.’     

The Case of the Chingford Skinhead: John White on Education and Special Obligations between Fellow Nationals

This article questions whether it is legitimate to propagate national sentiment and foster ties of nationality through school curricula. Against certain arguments for the ethical significance of nationality I question whether those who share a national identity have special moral obligations to members of their national group that they do not have to other persons. I argue that such ties of sentiment are unnecessary for achieving principled liberal goals, and that education within a liberal democracy should focus directly upon certain general moral principles, such as fairness, justice, and toleration. The recent Advisory Group on Citizenship's Education for Citizenship and the Teaching of Democracy in Schools (1998) similarly endorses, I argue, education focused upon general moral principles.     

RETHINKING THE BOUNDARIES AND BURDENS OF PARENTAL AUTHORITY OVER EDUCATION: A RESPONSE TO ROB REICH'S CASE STUDY OF HOMESCHOOLING

A bstract .  Rob Reich's claim that fruitful discussions about the balance among state, parental, and children's educational interests would benefit by contemplating the widespread phenomenon of homeschooling is a welcome suggestion. His policy recommendations, however, place an unjustified burden on parents to show the adequacy of homeschooling arrangements instead of placing the burden on the state to clarify commonly agreed-upon outcome measures. In this essay, Perry Glanzer argues that Reich places the burden on parents by overstating the threat that the freedom given to homeschooling parents represents to the interests of liberal democratic states and children. Reich, Glanzer contends, also underestimates the state's tendency to use regulation to weaken the civil society essential for liberal democracy. To counter Reich's proposal, Glanzer offers recommendations regarding the proper limits of parental authority in education in general and in the case of homeschooling in particular.     

Breaking silence: educating citizens for love,care and solidarity

An indifference to the affective domain and an allegiance to the education of the rational autonomous subject and public citizen are at the heart of formal education. The impact of Cartesian rationalism is intensifying with the glorification of performativity measured by league tables and rankings. The citizen carer and the care recipient citizen are only recognised in the educational arena when professionals are being trained to manage those in need of care. Education for informal care labour, solidarity work and love labour is generally not part of the formal educational trajectory. Because the scholarly understanding of work has been equated with economic self preservation and self‐actualisation through interaction with nature, education is seen as preparation for this type of work. Education is indifferent to other‐centred work arising from our interdependencies and dependencies as affective, relational beings. In particular it has ignored the centrality of nurturing for the preservation and self‐actualisation of the human species. In this article the authors argue that sociologists need to engage with the extensive feminist scholarship on care if they are to challenge the deeply care‐less view of the citizen that is implicitly accepted in new and older forms of liberal thinking. The rational economic actor model of the citizen is contrasted with the care‐full view of the citizen and the implications of both for education are explored.     

“Homeschooling Is Our Protest:” Educational Liberation for African American Homeschooling Families in Philadelphia,PA

As increasing numbers of researchers, parents, and youth are rethinking the traditional school system as the default educational option in the United States, homeschooling is not only growing in size but also in philosophical scope and demographic diversity. African Americans particularly have been one of the steadiest-growing homeschooling demographics. Among the few ethnographic accounts of black homeschooling families, youth perceptions tend to be overlooked. This article builds upon scholarship exploring racial injustices in education with new qualitative research: observations and interviews with 15 African American homeschooling families living in Philadelphia. This research reveals a variety of motivations undergirding African American families’ homeschooling decisions and perspectives, including commentary from youth homeschoolers. Previous research has critiqued homeschooling as a neoliberal exercise in privatization that entrenches the social reproduction of inequality, or operates as a destabilizing threat to public interest. Yet, findings from this study complicate these assessments by examining the ways African American homeschoolers enmesh themselves within educational reform conversations, some viewing homeschooling as a form of political protest.     

Between Private and Public: Recognition,revolution and political renewal

This paper deals with some issues underlying the role of education in the preparation of students for democratic participation. Throughout, I maintain two basic ideas: first, that a political action undertaken to obtain practical ends reflects a set of privately held values whose recognition is therefore essential to any idea of the political; second, that the continued viability of liberal democracy is dependent upon its openness to alteration through its recognition of private values. In order to bring these ideas to light more clearly, I will develop my position in the form of a critique of some contemporary liberal theories of civic education, most notably Amy Gutmann's, as expressed in her influential work Democratic Education. Maintaining Gutmann's requirement of educational relativism, I intend to show how her emphasis on individual deliberation as a goal of education fits within a system of deliberative democracy, and that the two serve to minimize, on the individual level, the ability of individuals to seek recognition within the public sphere, and on the political level, the ability of democratic institutions to be renewed through participation.     

美国家庭学校教育的特点及对我国教育的启示

介绍了家庭学校教育的内涵,追述了美国家庭学校兴起的历程及原因,分析了美国家庭学校教育的教学特点及它对中国教育理论和实践产生的影响。指出其在更新教育理念,重视家长在教育中的作用,加强对学生创造力的培养,以及建立家长与学校教育互动方面具有重要启示。     

ENGAGING DEMOCRATIC EDUCATION IN THE NEOLIBERAL AGE

A bstract .  For the democratic tradition to return to a vanguard position in education requires a thorough exploration of the problems of democratization in education and an inventory of possible new forms. In this essay, Simon Marginson reviews five books concerned with democracy and education: Michael Apple's Educating the "Right" Way , Denis Carlson's Leaving Safe Harbors , A. Belden Fields and Walter Feinberg's Education and Democratic Theory , Trevor Gale and Kathleen Densmore's Engaging Teachers , and Klas Roth's Democracy, Education and Citizenship . While these authors imagine democracy in somewhat different ways, they have a common interest in the role of public schooling in the formation of democratic agents and practices. The books do not offer a definitive account of the problems of democratization, nor do they embody a major breakthrough in democratic educational thinking, but they all provide helpful explorations of these issues. Marginson concludes with some thoughts on commodification and neoliberal economism in education, a contemporary focus of discussion in democratic educational circles.     

Justifying Compulsory Environmental Education in Liberal Democracies1

The need for education for (as opposed to about) sustainability is urged from many sides. Initiatives in this area tend to focus on formal education. Governmental, supra‐governmental and non‐governmental bodies all expect much of this kind of education, which is to transform children—and through them society—in the direction of sustainability. Due to the combination of great transformative expectations or ambitions and a focus on schooling (the idea of) compulsory environmental education poses potentially severe problems for governments committed to liberal principles, in particular the principle of state ‘neutrality’ with respect to ‘comprehensive conceptions of the good life’. The central question of this article is whether liberal governments can make environmental education of this kind compulsory without coming into conflict with the liberal principle of state neutrality. I discuss three defences of the compatibility of compulsory environmental education with liberal neutrality, namely those put forward by Derek Bell, Andrew Dobson, and Simon Hailwood, as well as some problems inherent in these defences. In the final section I sketch a form of compulsory environmental education that realises at least some of the aims commonly stated for Education for Sustainability and Education for Sustainable Development, and can be justified on the basis of liberal principles.     

Newman's Theory of a Liberal Education: A Reassessment and its Implications

John Henry Newman provided the basic vocabulary and guiding rationale sustaining the ideal of a liberal education up to our day. He highlighted its central focus on the cultivation of the intellect, its reliance upon broadly based theoretical knowledge, its independence of moral and religious stipulations, and its being its own end. As new interpretations enter the debate on liberal education further educational possibilities emanate from Newman's thought beyond those contained in his theory of a liberal education. These are found in Newman's broader idea of a university education, incorporating social, moral, and spiritual formation and in his philosophical thought where he develops a theory of knowledge at odds with the Idea of a University. There are, in addition, intriguing possibilities that arise from Newman's theory of reasoning in concrete affairs both because of their implicit challenge to inherited theories of a liberal education and because of the educational possibilities they hold out in their own right and in actual educational developments to which they may lend support.     

论作为教育权力的“灌输”

迄今为止,对“灌输论”最有力的质疑是“不道德论”。“不道德论”的立论是“无灌输道德教育”,“国家对道德中立”和“教育中立”是其理论支柱,是代表着自由主义立场的教育思想。面对着自由主义教育理论对“灌输论”的质疑,任何语义上的辨析都是徒劳的,因为自由主义教育理论在本质上质疑任何教育权力,反对任何意义上的“灌输”。因此,任何对“灌输论”立场的退缩,都是在向自由主义教育靠拢,同时也就是放弃对马克思主义教育权力观点的坚持。     

幼儿教育的“生命”审视

教育是源于生命发展的需要,教育应该关怀人的生命、关注人的价值。但长期以来我们的教育却遮蔽了这种本原性的需求,把教育的目的异化为知识、技能的掌握。在我国现实教育领域,从教育理念到教育方法,都普遍存在着有意或无意间漠视或压抑生命的现象。从生命的视角来审视幼儿教育,教育的过程应是以生命为原点,关爱生命,提升生命质量的教育,点化和润泽生命是教育的核心。     

Elementary teaming: Learning improvement or administrative ploy

Trends suggest that homeschooling continues to increase among black families. Yet, research on contemporary Black homeschooling remains scarce. Given black educational history, the phenomena of Black families choosing homeschooling over public and private schools in the post-Desegregation era is worthy of investigation. Further, documenting the ways in which black homeschool families engage their children in learning will inform the needs of black education in conventional schools, public and private. The phenomenon of increasing black home education represents a radical transformative act of self-determination, the likes of which have not been witnessed since the 1960s and ‘70s. This work highlights the primacy of agency among black homeschooling families. Thus, contrary to the negative depictions of black families as disengaged from the educational pursuits of their children, we evoke hooks's (1990) notion of homeplace to argue that black home education represents a vehicle of resistance to institutionalized racism and ideological mismatches between black families and their children's educational needs.     

让教师为课堂带进人文的阳光——教师教育的博雅化探索

有关当前中小学教师的事业心和职业认同的研究结果反映出教师的人文素质和教育信仰的欠缺。这种现状的产生,与职前教育学科化导向、继续教育的实效性不高、学校生活的人文化缺失等因素有关。教师教育应借鉴和发展博雅教育的思想,为真正有效地提高教师素质探索一条出路。     

‘Freer’ Forms of Organization and Financing and the Effects of Inequality in Latin American Educational Systems: two countries in comparison

The introduction of ‘freer’ forms of organization and financing into the Latin American educational systems about 20 years ago parallels similar developments in the contexts of neo‐liberal policies in the USA, Great Britain and, more recently, in Eastern Europe. This article will highlight the effects of ‘school autonomy’, decentralization, and privatization in the Latin American educational systems. In so doing, I will focus on the analysis of educational policy development in Chile and Argentina, based in part on my own research results. The results demonstrate that ‘freer’ forms of organization and financing have not proven to be positive for the progressive distribution of education, democratization and the consideration of diversity—and also not for the (difficult to measure) categories of ‘quality’ and ‘efficiency’ of education. These findings contribute to question whether the neo‐liberal forms of organization and financing of educational systems in Latin America are important factors in the realization of these goals.     

“求真”与“求用”之间：通识教育的理念困境及破解

通识教育引入我国已近三十年,国内的各类大学在开展通识教育的过程中都遭遇到了一定程度的困难。为尝试破解目前的困境,需要从理念上厘清通识教育与自由教育和文化素质教育之间的关系,认识到通识教育更加侧重于教育对象的大众性、教育内容的多元性和教育方法的通融性。理性主义、民主主义和实用主义是通识教育三张重要的标签。在这三种理念的指引下,我国在推行通识教育改革的过程中应更加注重学生批判性思维能力的训练、探索多样化的通识教育实施途径、开拓通识教育与专业教育互相融合的新渠道,以＂存真求用＂为指导重塑通识教育的实践模式。     

美国家庭学校教育对我国教育的影响

家庭的教育功能是家庭的众多功能中的一种,家庭学校教育是首先在美国兴起的一种自由、开放的新型教育运动,是指以家庭为基础而接受教育的一种形式,是教育多元化的一种趋势.文章首先介绍了家庭学校的内涵,然后在简要介绍美国家庭学校兴起的原因的基础上,分析了美国家庭学校教育可能对中国教育产生的影响,并针对家庭学校的发展趋势进行了展望.     

Ecclesiastical and religious factors which preserved Christian and traditional forms of education for citizenship in English schools, 1934–1944

Participants in the public discourse pertaining to religious education and education for citizenship in English schools between 1934 and 1944 included many ‘Christian educationists’. They advocated a conservative and elitist form of education for citizenship as taught through indirect training, Arnoldian public school traditions and ecumenical, liberal Protestantism. This contrasted with the conception of education for citizenship promoted by the founder members of the Association for Education in Citizenship. They wanted pupils to be educated into a liberal, democratic and secular version of English citizenship by means of ‘progressive’ pedagogies and direct instruction. This article identifies the ecclesiastical and religious factors which preserved the Christian and traditional form of education for citizenship in English schools between 1934 and 1944. These factors included the revival of the Christian foundations of British national identity and citizenship, the development and acceptance of non‐denominational forms of Christian education, the increasingly positive response which an evermore coherent and professionalised cohort of Christian educationists received from the Board of Education and the Consultative Committee, and the political power of the Anglican Church within the dual system combined with the religious settlement agreed in the 1944 Education Act.     

Compassion, Citizenship and Education in South Africa: An Opportunity for Transformation?

This study explores how citizenship education in South Africa is guided by liberal and communitarian concepts of citizenship. Its contention is that citizenship education, as it has evolved through policy discourses on Values, Education and Democracy, is heavily influenced by liberal and communitarian concepts of citizenship. Nonetheless, the liberal-communitarian concept of citizenship education is not sufficient on its own to bring about educational transformation in institutions. Instead, citizenship education initiatives in South Africa need to promote a sense of compassion, motivating learners to take seriously the suffering of others. It is argued that such compassion represents a precondition of genuine educational transformation.