Public Education, Public Obligation, and the Distribution of Opportunity
A just society would distribute opportunity fairly and, in the case of K-12 education, give each child the chance to realize her or his promise. While our society has never fully realized this ideal, we have, historically, agreed on the goal. We have also assumed that there is a public purpose for public education—that our society benefits from the education of its citizens in myriad ways.
Education philosopher John Dewey declared: “A government resting upon popular suffrage cannot be successful unless those who elect and who obey their governors are educated.” (Democracy and Education, p. 87) Political philosopher Benjamin Barber describes public schools as, “our sole public resource: the only place where, as a collective, self-conscious public pursuing common goods, we try to shape our children to live in a democratic world.” (An Aristocracy of Everyone, pp. 14-15) Chicago education professor Bill Ayers writes: “What makes education in a democracy distinct is a commitment to a particularly precious and fragile ideal… that the fullest development of all is the necessary condition for the full development of each; conversely, the fullest development of each is necessary for the full development of all.”
These writers define public education as essential to the public good, and they point to the moral obligation to provide opportunity for all, not just for some in a society that aspires to justice. These days we talk very little about the universal provision of public services as the