Abstract

A socially stratified state fails to meet the standard for liberal legitimacy due to the irrationality and social injustice of its basic structure. America is a socially stratified state with a history of pursuing ascriptive social policies. Its compulsory schooling system often buttresses and rationalizes its structure, but such a system is detrimental to the development of critical rationality and autonomy, particularly with respect to those least-advantaged under existing stratification schemes. Such a system cannot be structured to champion equal dignity and equal citizenship, cannot sincerely commit itself to preparing its young for self-government consistent with democratic ideals, and cannot substantively promote these ideals within the culture of its own political enterprise. Alternatively, John Rawls' political philosophy provides the basis for a morally defensible---though incomplete---model for conceptualizing the ideal, liberal democratic state. It makes social justice the first virtue of social institutions and rejects stratification. A philosophy of education consistent with this political theory---but constructed for the real world---is offered as part of the reconstruction of America's socially stratified society. The philosophy serves as a moral guide for practical reasoning to correct unfair privilege and unfair deprivation in education. Citizens are urged to support the reconstruction of society by embracing its inclusively defined, democratic ideals in the interest of equal dignity, equal citizenship, and the general welfare.