School Choice and the Betrayal of Democracy: How Market-Based Education Reform Fails Our Communities

Format: Hardback
Length: 248 pages
Publication date: 05 October 2021
Publisher: Pennsylvania State University Press

Evidence suggests that the increasing privatization of K–12 education leads to a diversion of resources from public schools, resulting in inferior learning environments, underpaid teachers, and heightened inequality. However, as Robert Asen reveals in his insightful book, the detrimental impact of market-based education reform extends far beyond this surface-level effect. At its core, these initiatives are fundamentally antidemocratic.

Asen argues that democratic communities and public education are mutually beneficial and cannot be separated. He delves into the theory driving privatization, popularized in the neoliberalism of Milton and Rose Friedman, as well as the school choice movement advocated by former Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos and the controversial voucher program implemented by former Wisconsin governor Scott Walker. What Asen uncovers is that a market-based approach not only differs in its distribution of education but also in its vision of society. When the values of choice, competition, and self-interest dominate national education policies, they shape individuals who lack connections to their community and are disconnected from their fellow citizens. Consequently, this policy produces a society that is at odds with the principles of democracy.

School Choice and the Betrayal of Democracy is a probing and thought-provoking work that features interviews with local advocates for public education, providing a contrasting vision of democratic education. It advocates for an education that is oriented towards civic relationships, community, and equality. This book is a must-read for policymakers, advocates of public education, citizens, and researchers alike, as it sheds light on the detrimental consequences of market-based education reform and offers a roadmap for a more inclusive and democratic education system.

Weight: 502g
Dimension: 160 x 235 x 27 (mm)
ISBN-13: 9780271091396