Abstract

Liberal Pluralism: The Implications of Value Pluralism for Political Theory and Practice William A. Galston, 2002, New York, Cambridge University Press. Pp. 150. Hbk $55.00Visions of Schooling: Conscience, Community, and Common Education Rosemary Salomone, 2000, New Haven CT, Yale University Press. Pp. 352. Pbk £13.95Diversity and Distrust: Civic Education in a Multicultural Democracy Stephen Macedo, 2003, Cambridge MA, Harvard University Press. Pp. 368. Pbk £16.95Bridging Liberalism and Multiculturalism in American Education Rob Reich, 2002, Chicago, University of Chicago Press. Pp. 272. Hbk £42.00School choice advocacy is dominated by perspectives that reflect a tendency to regard public schooling as a private service commodity. In recent years, numerous works of Anglo-American political philosophy, sociology and legal theory have attempted to restore a conception of public schooling as an institution that cultivates civic virtue. Counterintuitively, these works also endorse prudently regulated school choice as a means of honouring public purposes while accommodating pluralism within liberal democracies. Four such recent works help outline the salient dimensions of this perspective and the disputes within it. While not a political panacea, this perspective ought to inform public deliberations about school choice and public education generally in Anglophone nations.