Faith in Schools?
Autonomy, Citizenship, and Religious Education in the Liberal State
Published on 22. July 2007
Book
Hardback
232 pages
978-0-691-13091-0 (ISBN)
Description
Should a liberal democratic state permit religious schools? Should it fund them? What principles should govern these decisions in a society marked by religious and cultural pluralism? In Faith in Schools?, Ian MacMullen tackles these important questions through both political and educational theory, and he reaches some surprising and provocative conclusions. MacMullen argues that parents' desires to educate their children "in the faith" must not be allowed to deny children the opportunity for ongoing rational reflection about their values. Government should safeguard children's interests in developing as autonomous persons as well as society's interest in the education of an emerging generation of citizens. But, he writes, liberal theory does not support a strict separation of church and state in education policy. MacMullen proposes criteria to distinguish religious schools that satisfy legitimate public interests from those that do not.
And he argues forcefully that governments should fund every type of school that they permit, rather than favoring upper-income parents by allowing them to buy their way out of the requirements deemed suitable for children educated at public expense. Drawing on psychological research, he proposes public funding of a broad range of religious primary schools, because they can help lay the foundations for young children's future autonomy. In secondary education, by contrast, even private religious schools ought to be obliged to provide robust exposure to the ideas of other religions, to atheism, and to nonreligious approaches to ethics.
And he argues forcefully that governments should fund every type of school that they permit, rather than favoring upper-income parents by allowing them to buy their way out of the requirements deemed suitable for children educated at public expense. Drawing on psychological research, he proposes public funding of a broad range of religious primary schools, because they can help lay the foundations for young children's future autonomy. In secondary education, by contrast, even private religious schools ought to be obliged to provide robust exposure to the ideas of other religions, to atheism, and to nonreligious approaches to ethics.
Reviews / Votes
"A political scientist at Washington University in St. Louis and a native of England, where public funding of religious schools is common, MacMullen dissects the educational and political arguments for and against implementation of such a system in the United States...[MacMullen] proposes a solution he believes can satisfy both the wishes of families and the requirements of citizenship."--Education Week "MacMullen's book is an interesting read, with some significant policy implications. While the book does not necessarily win the case for adopting the author's approach, it succeeds admirably in advancing a more meaningful consideration of the goals of public education policy and whether religious instruction is incompatible with those goals."--Valerie Stoker, Journal of the American Academy of ReligionMore details
Language
English
Place of publication
New Jersey
United States
Target group
Professional and scholarly
College/higher education
Product notice
Trade binding
Dimensions
Height: 229 mm
Width: 152 mm
Weight
482 gr
ISBN-13
978-0-691-13091-0 (9780691130910)
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Schweitzer Classification
Other editions
Additional editions
E-Book
01/2009
1st Edition
Princeton University Press
from
€106.95
Available for download
Person
Ian MacMullen is assistant professor of political science at Washington University in St. Louis.
Content
Acknowledgments ix Introduction 1 PART I: Civic Education and Religious Schools 13 CHAPTER 1: The Civic Case against Religious Schools 15 The Civic Goals of Education 16 Civic Goals as the Only Goals of Public Education Policy 21 Do Religious Schools Make Good Citizens? 29 The Civic Value of Religious Schools 35 Responses and Conclusions 37 CHAPTER 2: Civic Education and the Autonomy Problem in Political Liberalism 41 Conflicting Educational Goals: Three Approaches to Resolution 41 Liberalism without Political Primacy 49 Is Autonomy a "Cost" of Civic Education? 54 Liberal Democratic Principles Presuppose the Value of Autonomy 60 Conclusion 62 PART II: Autonomy as a Public Value 65 CHAPTER 3: Autonomy, Identity, and Choice 67 Autonomy as Ongoing Rational Reflection 69 Caricatures of Rational Autonomy 73 The Nature of Autonomous Reflection 81 Conclusion 86 CHAPTER 4: The Value of Autonomy in a Pluralist World 88 John Stuart Mill, Joseph Raz, and the Intrinsic Value of Autonomy 88 Contemporary Liberal Responses to Mill: The Neutrality Condition 92 Autonomy and Moral Responsibility 93 Arguments for the Instrumental Value of Autonomy 96 The Instrumental Value of Autonomy and the Neutrality Principle 103 Conclusion 111 CHAPTER 5: Autonomy as a Goal of Education Policy: Objections and Responses 113 Parental Rights and Interests 113 "Parents Are People Too" 119 The Death Knell for Traditional Ways of Life? 124 Other Objections and Responses 129 Conclusion 136 PART III: Religious Schools and Education for Autonomy 137 CHAPTER 6: Secular Public Schools: Critiques and Responses 139 What's Wrong with Secular Education? 141 Public Control of Schools 147 Authority and Autonomy 151 Conclusion 155 CHAPTER 7: Religious Secondary Schools as Threat to Autonomy? 157 The Development of Autonomy Cannot Be Taken for Granted 157 The Autonomy Case against Religious Schools 162 Hallmarks of Permissible Religious Secondary Schools 169 Regulation and Entanglement 175 Conclusions and Policy Implications 179 CHAPTER 8: The Role of Religious Primary Schools 182 Age-Sensitive Education 182 Primary Culture and Identity 184 Reasoning within an Ethical Framework 188 Cognitive Development and Autonomous Reflection 190 Maintaining the Option of Autonomous Religious Belief 193 Hallmarks of Permissible Religious Primary Schools 197 Conclusion 202 Conclusion 205 Bibliography 221 Index 227