Democracy, Legitimacy, and Public Education

• In Event: Sustaining and Protecting Democracy

Abstract

Is there in fact a crisis of public education’s institutional legitimacy in the United States? Drawing from contemporary pragmatism and political liberalism, I argue that public schooling, as a state institution, presently has a normative legitimacy problem. Normative legitimacy is the moral and political right to rule. Public schools have, over time, diminishing claims on this right, if there cannot be sustainable, equitable educational gains for the children of racially minoritized and poor families within this system moving forward. The legitimacy or authority to achieve a well-educated pluralistic populace depends on our ability to educate all children for a flourishing, productive life. Thus, normative legitimacy is contingent upon considerations of justice, for public schooling.

Author

• Kathleen Knight-Abowitz, Miami University
  Presenting Author