Language as an Explanatory Hypothesis: A Linguistic Turn in the Comprehensive Enrollment Debate

• In Event: Fairmont Roundtable Session Twelve
  In Roundtable Session: Access and Justice (Table 16)

Abstract

I argue that the analogy of language acquisition to formation in religious, philosophical, or ideological systems legitimates the latter as both a parental and educational practice. Through a process of reflective equilibrium, I show that the moral status of one’s native language is equivalent to that of an initial explanatory hypothesis of reality, and just as teaching a coherent language to a child is inevitable and beneficial so is comprehensive enrollment. My argument deploys evidence from Islamic schools, the lexical culture of the Himba people, as well as qualitative and quantitative research to legitimate the practice of comprehensive enrollment as an extension of the values that permit native language acquisition.

Author

• William Kuehnle, The Ohio State University
  Presenting Author