Advanced Topics in Liberty

Education, Compulsion, and the State

April 16-18, 2010 – Arlington, VA

This conference aims to explore three widespread underlying assumptions concerning the delivery of education: that it is only through (a) compulsory, (b) state-provided, (c) free at the point of delivery schooling that universal access to educational opportunities can be achieved. Each of these assumptions will be examined in the light of their impact on creating societies of free and responsible individuals, in developing countries in particular, with implications for debates in the developed world too.

Discussion Leader: Mark Schug, University of Wisconsin, Milwaukee

Session 1:       The Theory of Compulsion and Education

Herbert, Auberon. The Right and Wrong of Compulsion by the State. Indianapolis: Liberty Classics, 1978. pp. 53-80

Smith, George. “Nineteenth-Century Opponents of State Education” The Public School Monopoly. San Francisco: Pacific Institute for Public Policy Research, 1982. pp. 109-144

Session 2:       The Political Economy of State Education

Chubb, John E. and Moe, Terry M. “Politics, Markets, and the Organization of Schools” American Political Science Review. (Volume 82,  Number 4, 1988): 1065-1087

West, E.G. “The Political Economy of American Public School Legislation” Education and the State. Indianapolis: Liberty Fund, 1994. pp. 295-337

Tweedie, Jack; Riley, Dennis; Chubb, John E; and Moe, Terry M. “Should Market Forces Control Educational Decision Making?” American Political Science Review. (Volume 84, Number 2, 1990): 549-567

Session 3:       Philosophical Justifications for State Education

Brighouse, Harry. “Why Should States Fund Schools?” British Journal of Educational Studies. (Volume 42.2, 1998): 138-152

Tooley, James. “Why Harry Brighouse Is Nearly Right About the Privatization of Education” Journal of Philosophy of Education. (Volume 37, Number 3, 2003): 427-447

West, E.G. “Liberty and Education: John Stuart Mill’s Dilemma” Philosophy (The Journal of the Royal Institute of Philosophy). (April, 1965): 35-48

Session 4:       The Twentieth-Century Development of Compulsory Schooling

“The Writing of Article 26 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, Appendix 1” World Education Report from UNESCO. (2000): 91-107

Wilmore, Larry. “Education by the State” DESA Discussion Papers. United Nations, (Number 27, 2002): 1-14

Session 5:       A Private Education

Murray, Charles. In Pursuit: Of Happiness and Good Government. New York: Simon and Schuster, 1988. pp. 222-231

Tooley, James. Education Without the State. London: IEA Education and Training Unit, 1996. pp. 17-30

Coulson, Andrew. Market Education: The Unknown History. New Brunswick: Transaction Publishers, 1999. pp. 367-391

Session 6:       Schooling and Deschooling

Illich, Ivan. “Why We Must Disestablish School” Deschooling Society. New York: Harper & Row, 1970. pp. 1-24

Mitra, Sugata. “Children and the Internet: Experiments with Minimally Invasive Education in India” British Journal of Education Technology. (Volume 32, 2, 2001): 221-232

Tooley, James. Reclaiming Education. London: Continuum, 2000. pp. 24-31