Answering Susan: Efficiency and respect in American high school reform

High school reform in the United States debates proceed on the assumption that older persons are only obligated to consider the ways in which new school institutions will result in more efficient educational outcomes. Contra this, I argue that reformers are also obligated to account for the role of respect in high schools. They must account for how new institutions will impact on the ability of students to make choices about their own lives and own educations. These dual obligations represent what I call the principle of educational respect. Reform debates could only proceed on the assumption that respect is not a relevant value when it comes to designing high schools if one of three arguments were true: that adolescents do not have the capacities required for respect, that they misbehave in ways that justify disregarding their preferences, or that education as a legitimate public purpose generates authority over students. Working through each of these arguments via analysis of such issues as citizenship theory, adolescent development, juvenile delinquency, and liberal-democratic concerns about neutrality, however, reinforces the position that reformers are obligated to design schools that meet the demands of both efficiency and respect. While some form of education must be required, the institutional shape of that education must be such that it maximizes the ability of students to make decisions about their own educations. This conclusion generates a means of sorting through contemporary education reform debates. Those approaches to school reform that emphasize the authority of older persons to determine the ends of education do not provide sufficient respect to high school students. Such approaches include school choice, cultural literacy, increasing discipline, school uniforms, and the like. Instead, adolescents deserve the use of approaches that emphasize sharing authority with students, so that students might direct their own educations, even as older persons still have a duty to insure that students receive a valuable education. Such approaches include Essential schools, student-centered pedagogies, portfolios and public exhibitions, internships, and the democratization of internal school governance.