Description
Book SynopsisThis work makes a richly humanitarian case for parental school choice, seeking to advance social justice and respect the dignity of parentsespecially those on the margins.
For decades, arguments in favor of school choice have largely been advanced on the basis of utility or outcome rather than social justice and human dignity. The Case for Parental Choice: God, Family, and Educational Liberty offers a compelling and humanitarian alternative. This volume contains an edited collection of essays by John E. Coons, a visionary legal scholar and ardent supporter of what is perhaps best described as a social justice case for parental school choice. Few have written more prodigiously or prophetically about the need to give parentsparticularly poor parentspower over their children's schooling. Coons has been an advocate of school choice for over sixty years, and indeed remains one of the most articulate proponents of a case for school choice that promotes both low-income
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“Few, if any, scholars possess more insights about parental school choice than John Coons. Beyond the philosophical, legal, and moral concerns surrounding choice, which Coons analyzes cogently, he also draws upon common-sense practicalities to cinch his many compelling arguments.” —Patrick J. Wolf, co-author of The School Choice Journey
"Those looking for a better way to resolve differences, to transcend partisan narratives, and to promote a robust and pluralistic school system that engenders greater trust would be wise to consult Coons’s extensive scholarship. The Case for Parental Choice makes an elegant and accessible reintroduction to his work." —City Journal
Table of ContentsForeword by the Editors
Foreword by Jesse Choper
Preface by John E. Coons
Part 1. Religion, Liberty, and Education
1. Intellectual Liberty and the Schools
2. Making Schools Public
3. School Choice as Simple Justice
4. Education: Intimations of a Populist Rescue
5. Orphans of the Enlightenment: Belief and the Academy
Part 2. Education and Community
6. Can Education Create Community?
7. Education: Nature, Nurture, and Gnosis
8. Magna Charter
Part 3. Religion, Family, and Schools
9. Luck, Obedience, and the Vocation of the Childhood
10. The Religious Rights of Children
11. The Sovereign Parent
Conclusion: Exit, with Spirit
Appendix
Soldiers and School Choice
It Takes a Village? No, When It Comes to Schooling, It Takes Parents
Public Schools and the Bingo Curriculum
School Choice Restores Parental Responsibility
MLK and God’s Schools
Faith, School Choice, and Moral Foundations
Of Civics and “Sects”: Debunking Another School Choice Myth
Fear of Words Unspoken
Equality, “Created Equality,” and the Case for School Choice
A Tale of Two Turkeys
On Teaching Human Equality
School, Such a Trip
Bibliographical Essay
