Pluralism and American Public Education: No One Way to School

by Ashley Rogers Berner

This book argues that the structure of public education is a key factor in the failure of America's public education system to fulfill the intellectual, civic, and moral aims for which it was created. The book challenges the philosophical basis for the traditional common school model and defends the educational pluralism that most liberal democracies enjoy. Berner provides a unique theoretical pathway that is neither libertarian nor state-focused and a pragmatic pathway that avoids the winner-takes-all approach of many contemporary debates about education. For the first time in nearly one hundred fifty years, changing the underlying structure of America’s public education system is both plausible and possible, and this book attempts to set out why and how.

Genres: Education

194 pages, Hardcover

Published November 14, 2016

Reviews

[Jerry · Rating 5 out of 5]

It is no secret that American education leaves many students behind intellectually, civically, and morally. Educational leaders disagree about why this is so. I argue in this book that much of the fault lies with two wrong turns that should be reversed: first, the nineteenth-century political decision to favor a uniform structure over a plural one; second, the twentieth-century abandonment of a traditional, academic curriculum.

…

America’s restrictive public education system stands in sharp contrast to the educational pluralism that other democratic nations take for granted… For example, the Netherlands supports 35 different types of schools on equal footing; England, Belgium, Sweden, and most of the provinces of Canada also provide mechanisms for parental choice.

…

Educational pluralism offers a different way of doing public education by accommodating both individual belief and the common good. And it suggests a way out of the winner-takes-all mentality that characterizes so many educational debates today. Within this new framework, we must also continue to raise academic expectations by embracing a content-rich, subject-oriented liberal-arts curriculum. Initiatives such as the Common Core State Standards (CCSS) are a necessary but insufficient step in this direction.

You can read the rest of the introduction, I think, at Google Books.

Despite being possibly the shortest book about United States public education that I’ve read recently, this is also the most comprehensive; Berner accomplishes that with a concise presentation and very precise arguments. She pulls together both global and domestic research to put how our educational system currently works in perspective, in about as non-partisan way that you could given the subject.

For example, she nearly completely rejects the libertarian market-oriented approach; and even avoids it in discussing things such as the bureaucrat-heavy nature of most public schools today. The libertarian or conservative would argue that whenever you have a monopoly, you no longer need to hire more workers (teachers) and so instead focus on management (bureaucrats). She argues, instead, that the nature of a uniform system requires more administrators to handle all the needs that a single school must provide for.

Similarly, she argues in favor of the Common Core standards that so many conservatives despise.

Normally, I read two paper books at a time: one fiction and one non-fiction. But I was unable to put this one down; there was never a point where I became bored with numbers and arguments and everything else that makes for public policy debates. It was fascinating all the way through, and this despite acknowledging the depth of the problem:

Educational philosophies answer the questions of how we should educate the child and why. These questions do not stand on their own, however. They automatically engage deeper understandings of human nature, the meaning of human life, the source of authority, moral responsibility, and the just society.

[Ben · Rating 4 out of 5]

Well researched, thought-provoking, a heavy lift to try to change the dominant paradigm of the USA's approach to elementary and secondary education. Anyone who wants to take serious part in that discussion, to help make sure we are best dedicating resources to develop thoughtful, informed and active citizens, needs to grapple with Berner's argument.

[Dmitri · Rating 5 out of 5]

Thoughtful, subtle, and engaging. I read a lot of books on education philosophy and policy and this was a breath of fresh air.