While the fierce debate over religion in public schools receives ample media attention, we rarely consider the implications of religious schools on moral education and liberal democracy. In this groundbreaking work, Walter Feinberg opens up a critical new dialogue to offer a complete discussion of the important role religious schools play in the formation of a democratic citizenry. Feinberg, a leading philosopher of education, approaches the subject of religious education with a rare evenhandedness, drawing on examples from Christian, Jewish, and Muslim schools and exploring topics as disparate as sex education and creationism. For Goodness Sake provides a much-needed take on a controversial topic, demonstrating that the relationship between religion and schooling is not simply the exclusive concern of members of a given religious community, but a relevant and vital issue for everyone who cares about education.

Dewey and Education presents Dewey's perspectives on moral psychology and development, human nature, and democratic community-building as they inform the influential philosopher's deep commitment to educational reform. In this personal yet far-reaching account, Walter Feinberg relates Dewey's work both to contemporary social and political affairs and to his own philosophical and political commitments. Written for scholars and students of the Philosophy of Education, Educational Policy Studies, and Political Theory, this book is indispensable as a guide to Dewey's influence on democratic education.

Dewey and Education presents Dewey's perspectives on moral psychology and development, human nature, and democratic community-building as they inform the influential philosopher's deep commitment to educational reform. In this personal yet far-reaching account, Walter Feinberg relates Dewey's work both to contemporary social and political affairs and to his own philosophical and political commitments. Written for scholars and students of the Philosophy of Education, Educational Policy Studies, and Political Theory, this book is indispensable as a guide to Dewey's influence on democratic education.

In our world of unceasing turmoil, an educated citizenry is the first and strongest line of defence for democratic renewal. Educating for Democracy shows how students can prepare for the responsibilities of 'the most important office in a democracy' - that of a citizen. Education can provide students with the dispositions and skills needed to exercise their role judiciously and responsibly, as a patriot who cares about democracy and as a custodian who cares for democracy. These two aspects of caring call for curriculum-wide reform. The outcome of this reform is a patriot who serves as custodian of democratic culture, where commitment and competence, heart and mind, love and intellect, are brought together for the sake of democratic renewal. While nations, as both instruments and proximal objects of care, have an important role to play in this renewal, the ultimate aim is the care and cultivation of a democratic culture.

This widely used text has been expanded to include the most important issues in contemporary schooling, including new end-of-chapter sections for Further Reading and new references added to the useful Additional Resources section. School and Society, Fifth Edition uses realistic case studies, dialogues, and open-ended questions designed to stimulate thinking about problems related to school and society, including curriculum reform, social justice, and competing forms of research. Written in a style that speaks directly to today's educator, this book tackles such crucial questions as: Do schools socialize students to become productive workers? * Does schooling reproduce social class and pass on ethnic and gender biases? * Can a teacher avoid passing on dominant social and cultural values? * What besides subjects do students really learn in schools? School and Society is one of the five books in the highly regarded Teachers College Press Thinking About Education Series, now in its Fifth Edition. All of the books in this series are designed to help pre- and in-service teachers bridge the gap between theory and practice.

In our world of unceasing turmoil, an educated citizenry is the first and strongest line of defence for democratic renewal. Educating for Democracy shows how students can prepare for the responsibilities of 'the most important office in a democracy' - that of a citizen. Education can provide students with the dispositions and skills needed to exercise their role judiciously and responsibly, as a patriot who cares about democracy and as a custodian who cares for democracy. These two aspects of caring call for curriculum-wide reform. The outcome of this reform is a patriot who serves as custodian of democratic culture, where commitment and competence, heart and mind, love and intellect, are brought together for the sake of democratic renewal. While nations, as both instruments and proximal objects of care, have an important role to play in this renewal, the ultimate aim is the care and cultivation of a democratic culture.

The unique mission of a public education is to reproduce a civic public. For the most part this will not happen in a vacuum and requires specific institutions, the most prominent of which are the public schools. Publicly supported schools have other functions as well. They socialize, train, produce a workforce, and, hopefully, promote individual growth and autonomy. Walter Feinberg argues that while all of these functions may be carried on by private or religious schools as well, public schools should have the additional responsibility of reproducing a civic public for a diverse pluralistic society. As Feinberg demonstrates, the problem is that in the context of neoliberal ideology, where all the other educational functions are reduced to economic ones within a market context ruled by competition-nation to nation, state to state, community to community, school to school, teacher to teacher, student to student-the public function becomes less and less central and more and more difficult to carry out. What Is a Public Education and Why We Need It suggests ways to change this by bringing the idea of a true public education back into focus.

The unique mission of a public education is to reproduce a civic public. For the most part this will not happen in a vacuum and requires specific institutions, the most prominent of which are the public schools. Publicly supported schools have other functions as well. They socialize, train, produce a workforce, and, hopefully, promote individual growth and autonomy. Walter Feinberg argues that while all of these functions may be carried on by private or religious schools as well, public schools should have the additional responsibility of reproducing a civic public for a diverse pluralistic society. As Feinberg demonstrates, the problem is that in the context of neoliberal ideology, where all the other educational functions are reduced to economic ones within a market context ruled by competition-nation to nation, state to state, community to community, school to school, teacher to teacher, student to student-the public function becomes less and less central and more and more difficult to carry out. What Is a Public Education and Why We Need It suggests ways to change this by bringing the idea of a true public education back into focus.

This book brings together essays by leading political, legal, and educational theorists to re-examine the requirements of citizenship education in liberal-democratic societies. The chapters in the book evaluate demands by minority groups for cultural recognition through education, and also examine arguments for and against citizenship education as a means of fostering a shared national identity.

One of the most hotly debated issues in contemporary education concerns the tension between the demands of such groups as blacks, Latinos, gays, women, and the handicapped for a curriculum that recognizes their particular identity-and the competing position that the role of public education is to infuse children with a common American identity. In this book, a distinguished philosopher of education takes on that debate, indicating the underlying ethical issues on each side and showing how schools can promote both national and cultural identities. Walter Feinberg develops a theory of education that is twofold: it is sensitive to the concerns of parents and community members who want the public schools to reinforce their particular values and group identity, and it also maintains a commitment to the "principled reasons" for public education-the general ideals that public education shares with a liberal political philosophy, particularly equality of educational opportunity, freedom of association, and individual development. Feinberg develops an understanding of basic principles that schools should use in addressing cultural differences, tests these and shows how liberalism is indeed compatible with cultural recognition.

Why teach about religion in public schools? What educational value can such courses potentially have for students?

In "For the Civic Good, " Walter Feinberg and Richard A. Layton offer an argument for the contribution of Bible and world religion electives. The authors argue that such courses can, if taught properly, promote an essential aim of public education: the construction of a civic public, where strangers engage with one another in building a common future. The humanities serve to awaken students to the significance of interpretive and analytic skills, and religion and Bible courses have the potential to add a reflective element to these skills. In so doing, students awaken to the fact of their own interpretive framework and how it influences their understanding of texts and practices. The argument of the book is developed by reports on the authors' field research, a two-year period in which they observed religion courses taught in various public high schools throughout the country, from the "Bible Belt" to the suburban parkway. They document the problems in teaching religion courses in an educationally appropriate way, but also illustrate the argument for a humanities-based approach to religion by providing real classroom models of religion courses that advance the skills critical to the development of a civic public.

While the fierce debate over religion in public schools receives ample media attention, we rarely consider the implications of religious schools on moral education and liberal democracy. In this groundbreaking work, Walter Feinberg opens up a critical new dialogue to offer a complete discussion of the important role religious schools play in the formation of a democratic citizenry. Feinberg, a leading philosopher of education, approaches the subject of religious education with a rare evenhandedness, drawing on examples from Christian, Jewish, and Muslim schools and exploring topics as disparate as sex education and creationism. For Goodness Sake provides a much-needed take on a controversial topic, demonstrating that the relationship between religion and schooling is not simply the exclusive concern of members of a given religious community, but a relevant and vital issue for everyone who cares about education.

The essays in this volume address the educational issues which arise when national, sub-national, and supra-national identities compete. How can we determine the limits of parental educational rights when the concern of liberalism to protect and promote children's autonomy conflicts with the desire to maintain communal integrity? Given the advances made by the forces of globalization, can the liberal-democratic state morally justify its traditional purpose of forging a cohesive national identity? Or has increasing globalization rendered this educational aim obsolete and morally corrupt? Should liberal education instead seek to foster a sense of global citizenship, even if doing so would suppress patriotic identification? In addressing these and many other questions, the volume examines the theoretical and practical issues at stake between nationalists, multiculturalists, and cosmopolitans in the field of education. The fifteen essays, plus an introductory essay by the editors, provide a genuine, productive dialogue between political and legal philosophers and educational theorists.

Why teach about religion in public schools? What educational value can such courses potentially have for students?

In "For the Civic Good, " Walter Feinberg and Richard A. Layton offer an argument for the contribution of Bible and world religion electives. The authors argue that such courses can, if taught properly, promote an essential aim of public education: the construction of a civic public, where strangers engage with one another in building a common future. The humanities serve to awaken students to the significance of interpretive and analytic skills, and religion and Bible courses have the potential to add a reflective element to these skills. In so doing, students awaken to the fact of their own interpretive framework and how it influences their understanding of texts and practices. The argument of the book is developed by reports on the authors' field research, a two-year period in which they observed religion courses taught in various public high schools throughout the country, from the "Bible Belt" to the suburban parkway. They document the problems in teaching religion courses in an educationally appropriate way, but also illustrate the argument for a humanities-based approach to religion by providing real classroom models of religion courses that advance the skills critical to the development of a civic public.