The lectures and discussions that comprise this course will be guided by three central questions: 'Is anything wrong with the inequalities that characterize U.S. education today?'; 'If so, what is wrong?'; and 'What, if anything, does philosophy tell us about how to rectify those wrongs?'

We will begin by looking at Jonathan Kozol's powerful account of educational inequality in his recent book Savage Inequalities. Kozol shows that in spite of attempts to equalize educational opportunities in the U.S., such as the decision of Brown v. Board of Education in 1954, there continue to exist deep and troubling inequalities of distribution in education; for example, inequalities in school funding between black and white students, and the continuing reality of racially segregated schooling in many parts of the country.

In the second section of the course we will begin to explore the problem of inequality more deeply by asking three related questions. First, under what conditions, if any, might inequalities be justified? Second, what precisely are the problems with such inequalities? Third, to what extent must education recognize different identities equally (eg. racial, ethnic, gender, or sexual identities)? In the third section of the course, we will try to answer the question whether there is a way to identify aspects of moral character (for example, emotional and cognitive abilities), and is such a character necessary for individuals to participate in genuine democratic decision making. This discussion leads naturally to the fourth section of the course, which deals with the question of the aims of education. Is the aim of education essentially to promote and sustain democracy? to promote national economic prosperity? to promote individual liberation?

Throughout the course we will draw on our discussions of the readings to examine different possible strategies for transforming education.

January 23, 1996
Introduction

THE PROBLEM OF EDUCATIONAL INEQUALITY

January 30, 1996

Jonathan Kozol Savage Inequalities

   There Are No Children Here