The Core Content Paradox

Neal McCluskeyLast week, Heterodox Academy hosted anengaging web discussion between Greg Forster of EdChoice and Robert Pondiscio of the American Enterprise Institute. The topic was “School Choice and Viewpoint Diversity,” with Forster arguing that choice is likely to yield greater diversity of ideas in classrooms, and Pondiscio averring that choice will reduce diverse discussion by enabling families to select schools in which all agree.This is a bedrock education topic —what is the best way to deliver education in a diverse society? —and both debaters took reasonable positions. Pondiscio’s was the more intuitive: With unbounded choice, people will split into isolated camps. But the evidence on choice and cohesion suggests a paradox: More freedom appears to fostergreater unity.Forster discussed some of this evidence, having done a lot of work over the yearscompiling and analyzing research on private school choice and formation of knowledgeable, tolerant citizens. Patrick Wolf of the University of Arkansas updated the state of that research in our 2020 bookSchool Choice Myths. Including after controlling for such confounding student characteristics as family income, studies have repeatedly found that private schools produce more knowledgeable and tolerant citizens than public schools. Similar results have beenfound for charter schools.Why?There are likely many reasons, but as Forster argues, families are more likely to trust schools they have chos...
Source: Cato-at-liberty - Category: American Health Authors: Source Type: blogs