Deliberative theory has served two purposes in recent studies of education policy-making at the community level in the US: as a lens through which to examine existing practices, and as an ideal toward which to strive. These studies, though, overlook a prior and important theoretical question: "should" deliberative theory be applied to education…

Harry Brighouse has advanced an intriguing set of arguments about the place of human flourishing in liberal educational theory. In his book "On Education", Brighouse argues that autonomy can be justified instrumentally because it promotes flourishing. He links flourishing to the psychological concept of "subjective wellbeing" and he spells out the…

Educational programs for gifted students face both philosophical and practical challenges from egalitarians. Some object that gifted schools inherently undermine a commitment to equality in education, while others observe that schools for talented students cater to privileged youth and effectively discriminate against disadvantaged minorities.…

While political philosophers have paid a great deal of attention to providing a theory of secession for cases of nations breaking away from nation-states, little has been said about perhaps the most common type of secession--school district secession. I argue that while there is no principled prohibition against school district secession, there…

Theories that explain the gender discrepancy in mathematics almost universally explain why boys are "better at math" than girls while failing to adequately account for girls' higher grades in math classes or better performances on tests of computational ability. This article develops a new, more comprehensive theoretical model that explains girls'…

Many parents cite intimacy as one of their reasons for deciding to educate at home. It seems intuitively obvious that home education is conducive to intimacy because of the increased time families spend together. Yet what is not clear is whether intimacy can provide justification for one's decision to home educate. To see whether this is so, we…

In Sweden approximately 100 children a year are in home-based education, which is regulated by local policies that interpret legislation and guide practice. Based on a detailed analysis of documents drawn up in two municipalities, the article highlights different interpretations of the role and requirement of "insyn" (insight) in the governance…

This article first examines why the homeschooling movement in the USA emerged in the 1970s, noting the impact of political radicalism both right and left, feminism, suburbanization, and public school bureaucratization and secularization. It then describes how the movement, constituted of left- and right-wing elements, collaborated in the early…

Homeschooling can be a last resort for frustrated families where gifted children are not having their complex needs met through mainstream schooling. Unlike many other groups of homeschoolers, parents of highly able children take this option for pragmatic reasons rather than as a kind of moral stance. This article explores some of the ways that…

Drawing from six years of qualitative research, this article analyzes the broad range of proposed and existing homeschool regulations throughout the United States. It argues that current homeschool regulations--and most proposals for how to improve them--misjudge the complexity of such an endeavor; state resources are misused and the basic…

Home education in Germany is a contravention to the school law, and severe sanctions are applied against it. Despite this, a small home education movement has developed within the last 25 years. This article, after a short overview of home education in Germany, examines the reasons why a policy with sanctions fails to deter homeschooling. Then I…

Who is at risk in school, and what does race have to do with it? Studies of the extent to which race correlates with educational outcomes and elucidates achievement gaps predate the discourse on risk. In this chapter, the authors analyze the survey literature that statistically defines some racial groups and not others as being at educational…

Children of the poor are at greater educational risk than the children of the wealthy, but to what extent, if any, are these risks the result of undetected linguistic considerations? This chapter reviews long-standing issues that influence students' academic and social experiences in school as well as more contemporary debates that respond to…

Educational research, practice, and institutions regularly highlight the significance of factors outside of schooling that affect children's engagement and participation in classroom learning. The health of children and families is one such issue with implications for the quality of children's school experiences, treatment in school, and academic…

Within the past decade, adolescents have become an increasingly scrutinized age group in the United States and abroad. The stereotypical image of youth and of adolescence by extension--as a boisterous embodiment of the "unruly" stage of life between childhood and adulthood--has long dominated discussions about definitions of and subsequent policy…