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The Egalitarian Virtues of Educational Vouchers
Author(s) -
BRIGHOUSE HARRY
Publication year - 1994
Publication title -
journal of philosophy of education
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.501
H-Index - 41
eISSN - 1467-9752
pISSN - 0309-8249
DOI - 10.1111/j.1467-9752.1994.tb00328.x
Subject(s) - voucher , autonomy , democracy , philosophy of education , democratic education , personal autonomy , sociology , school choice , public administration , public relations , political science , economics , public economics , higher education , economic growth , law , politics , accounting
The paper argues that there is no fundamental incompatibility between the use of vouchers and managed market mechanisms in the distribution of education und the principled aims of egalitarian educational policy. It takes those aims to be equality of opportunity, education for autonomy, and democratic education, and shows in each case how a voucher scheme could accommodate the aim. It explains why a judiciously designed voucher scheme may constitute a more politically feasible method of achieving central egalitarian goals than attempts to improve public provision, but does not endorse the use of voucher schemes.