The Ethical Implications of Political Education Debates

The trend of increased polarization in American society did not skip over the education

system, which is most evident in the debates around book banning, curriculum changes, and

the school choice movement. The central argument that divides advocates on either side of

both of these topics regards how much control should parents have over education, whether it’s

about the content that schools can teach, or the schools that students can attend. These two

issues are deeply intertwined (although they are often presented as separate issues), as many

parents support school choice on the basis of a curriculum that is more aligned with their

values. This post serves as an introduction to these politically contentious education policy

debates, and to prompt readers to consider the ethical questions at their core.

Changing Curriculums and Book Banning

Broadly speaking, those opposed to schools addressing controversial social topics

advocate for greater parental control over what they consider appropriate for schools to include

in their curriculum and libraries. A vocal minority of politically active parents who strongly hold

this belief have advocated for banning library books as well as curriculum changes to remove

content with discussions of race, sexuality, and gender, as well as other unflattering aspects of

United States history. Florida is well-known for their recent curriculum change which requires

educators to teach that “slaves developed skills which, in some instances, could be applied for

their personal benefit.”

Conversely, advocates for a more inclusive curriculum argue that schools must provide

equitable opportunities for all students to learn about diverse perspectives, preparing them for

a complex world outside of what they were exposed to in their own family and community. This

raises a number of ethical questions; is it right for schools to teach content that some parents

do not endorse? Should parents’ beliefs limit students’ exposure to different ideas?

School Choice

The school choice movement encompasses charter schools—which are publicly funded

but operated by private, third-party institutions—and private schools, which are both privately

funded and operated. However, voucher programs provide families with money from the

government to pay for private school tuition. The theory behind this movement is that market

forces (driven by parents’ decisions) will lead to the best schools receiving the most students

and resources so that they can continue to succeed, and the worst schools will eventually close

because all of the students will leave for better schools. This competition among schools is

increasingly becoming a zero-sum game, as the redirection of students/funds away from

traditional public schools to privately-operated schools exacerbates educational disparities. This

is especially true for students who rely on the accessibility and resources provided exclusively by

public schools.

The first visionaries of alternatives to public schools proposed a compromise, intended

to allow both private and charter schools to address the ethical concern of an inequitable

traditional education (that benefits students who excel in high-stakes testing and lecture-based

learning). These privately-operated schools would experiment with educational techniques to

improve outcomes for students, and introduce those techniques to public schools in a

mutually-beneficial cycle.

Another facet of school choice involves both the ethics and legality of states (such as

North Carolina) providing vouchers for students to attend religiously affiliated private schools.

The question is whether a family should hold the right to decide their child’s school on the basis

of having an education that is closely aligned to their family’s beliefs and values. New York City’s

Hasidic Jewish Schools are an extreme example, where all of their 1,000 students failed a state

standardized exam. This is by design, as these schools are intended to provide insulation from

the secular world, and focus on Jewish law, prayer and tradition. Both private and charter

schools have more flexibility over their educational standards than public schools, which are

held to standards decided by the district, state, and federal government to varying extents. This

gives room for private and charter schools to offer subjects that aren’t included at all or to the

same extent in traditional schools, such as a variety of language classes, religious classes, or

specialized art classes. The downside to this is the tradeoff with accountability—as exemplified

by the Hasidic schools—to perform well in core subjects based on established academic

standards.

We’re left with several questions regarding the ethics of school choice. Should failing

public schools be left to fail and be replaced by privately-operated schools because they’re

underperforming? Or do we need to invest more in the public schools and protect their

foremost role in the education system, without concerns of market forces and private

institutions causing students to be left in failing schools? How much do we trust the market to

bring about the best educational opportunities for all students, including disadvantaged

students and families? Should parents have the right to self-select the type of school—and

consider student demographics and curriculum—that their child attends? It’s crucial to consider

these questions in this overarching debate over parental control vs educational equity with your

own research on the facts and the realities of these policies in practice.