Educating Citizens: International Perspectives on Civic Values and School Choice

Extract

Educating Citizens: International Perspectives on Civic Values and School Choice. Edited by Patrick J. Wolf and Stephen Macedo, with David J. Ferrero and Charles Venegoni. Washington, DC: Brookings Institution Press, 2004. 397p. $59.95 cloth, $24.95 paper.

Not to be confused with the Carnegie Foundation book carrying the same title, Educating Citizens is a very good resource for those who want to learn about how Western European societies have considered the issue of school choice. The editors have collected a series of reports on how private, generally religious, schooling has operated in the most developed countries of Europe, and they conclude that a variety of educational choices will benefit primary and secondary schooling in the United States. However, such choices must be well regulated to ensure the development of civic values among youth here. They argue for “a certain sort of publicly funded pluralism in education; pluralism justified by value differences but contained by significant regulation and tamed by systems that ensure accountability” (p. 4).