Disestablishing the school: debunking justifications for state intervention in education

"That governments are, and will always be, involved in education, is taken for granted by the majority of educationalists. Recent market reforms are condemned, because they appear to undermine state intervention in education. But are justifications for state intervention in education philosophically sound? Is the attack on markets justified? In Disestablishing the School, Dr Tooley explores these issues, setting recent educational policy debates in the broader context of debates in moral and political philosophy, and philosophy of economics. Topical issues to do with equality of opportunity, education for democracy, education for autonomy, democratic control of the curriculum, and education as a public good are examined. None of these survive as a critique of markets in education, nor as a justification for state intervention in education. In undermining these arguments, Dr Tooley argues that the case for the disestablishment of the school, for the separation of school and state, can be philosophically sustained."--Provided by publisher.

Cover -- Half Title -- Dedication -- Title Page -- Copyright Page -- Table of Contents -- Acknowledgements -- 1 Education and the state -- Introduction -- West's 'market model' -- 2 Equality of opportunity -- Introduction -- West on equality of opportunity -- Williams on equality of opportunity -- Rawls on equality of opportunity -- Why Dworkin cares about equality -- For 'equality of opportunity' read 'an adequate education for all' -- 3 Education for democracy -- Introduction -- West on education for democracy -- Education for participation in democracy -- State versus nonstate education for democracy: contingent arguments -- State versus nonstate education for democracy: noncontingent arguments -- Justifications for democracy and fitness tests for participation -- 'Education for democracy': markets and the state -- 4 Education for autonomy -- Introduction -- White on a compulsory curriculum for autonomy -- Raz on the state promotion of autonomy: negative arguments -- Raz on the state promotion of autonomy -- Challenging Raz's 'contingent objection' -- The epistemic argument and the curriculum -- Against state promotion of education for autonomy -- 5 Democratic control of education -- Introduction -- Democratic control of the curriculum: an argument from political equality -- Improving democracy by improving voting systems -- Riker and Nathan on the limitations of democracy -- Questioning the conditions of Arrow's theorem -- Logrolling and democratic control of education -- Democracy versus markets -- Fleshing out West's 'minimum adequate education for all' -- 6 Education as a public good -- Introduction -- Grace on education as a public good -- Education and the 'public goods dilemma' -- West's market model and externalities -- West's market model and the 'public goods dilemma' -- 7 Education and the state revisited -- Bibliography