Premium
Unsettling the State — How ‘Demand’ Challenges the Education System in the US
Author(s) -
PLANK DAVID
Publication year - 2006
Publication title -
european journal of education
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.577
H-Index - 45
eISSN - 1465-3435
pISSN - 0141-8211
DOI - 10.1111/j.1465-3435.2006.00243.x
Subject(s) - state (computer science) , school system , sociology , public education , public relations , public administration , political science , economic growth , economics , pedagogy , computer science , algorithm
‘Demand’ in the education system has traditionally been articulated almost entirely in terms of access to more, better, and higher‐status opportunities within the traditional public school system, rather than for alternatives to the standardised, highly‐regulated opportunities provided by the state. This is changing, in the U.S. and elsewhere, as households and groups increasingly articulate demands that cannot easily be accommodated by the existing system. These new demands include calls for schooling that more fully reflects the linguistic, religious, or cultural preferences of specific communities. They represent a fundamental challenge to the assumption of collective interests pursued through public institutions that underlie contemporary public school systems. This article explores the character of this challenge and presents an assessment of the ways in which the U.S. education system is changing in its response.