Why We Still Need Public Schools

by Must, Art

• ISBN13: 9780879757588
• ISBN10: 0879757582
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 1992-06-01
• Publisher: Prometheus Books

Summary

Two cornerstones of American democracy -- separation of church and state, and public schools -- are under increasing attack. As this collection of essays, written by some of America's leading educators, political figures, and advocates of religious liberty shows, universal public education and the separation of church and state are related. The eminent contributors to this book argue that we need to defend both institutions against increasing onslaughts by the Religious Right and other self-proclaimed arbiters of societal behaviour, who seek to dictate public policy and who are labelling the public schools themselves as "immoral" institutions. At issue here is not whether public schools need to be improved. It is assumed that improvement is necessary.

Table of Contents

Preface	p. 9
The Need for Separation of Church and State
Introduction	p. 17
Religious Liberty and Church-State Separation: Why Should we Care?	p. 19
The Need for Separation: A Lutheran's View	p. 27
Toleration Is Not Good Enough	p. 34
Nonpreferentialists: Modern Advocates of Court-Mandated Second-Class Consciences	p. 45
Applying Coercion: The Latest Element of Establishment	p. 70
"Civilizing" Native Alaska: Federal Support of Mission Schools, 1885-1906	p. 93
Prayer in School: Why It Does Religion No Favor	p. 106
From Equal Access to Distribution of Religious Materials	p. 114
The Battle over "Secular Humanism" in the Public Schools	p. 119
The Evolution of Creationism	p. 139
Religious Liberty in the 1990s: Same Battles, Different Battleground	p. 156
Theocracy versus Democracy in the Empire State: Three Decades of Church-State Entanglement in the Schools of New York	p. 163
The Need for Public Schools
Introduction	p. 189
What If Government Subsidies for Private Schooling Are Legislated?	p. 191
The People Say No! The Parochiaid Referenda, 1966-1990	p. 206
Private School Vouchers: Separate and Unequal	p. 221
The Milwaukee Parental Choice Program	p. 236
Why Privatizing Public Education Is A Bad Idea	p. 245
Endangered Species: Children, Democracy, and Public Schools	p. 253
Quality Education for Minorities: An Impossible Dream without Public Education	p. 261
Why Public Schools?	p. 273
Why Private School Choice Is Not the Answer	p. 278
Keeping the Public in Public Education: Does Choice Serve Democratic Schooling?	p. 288
Democratic Schooling and the Revitalization of the Public World	p. 299
Bibliography	p. 309
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