POLI2614 · Political Science

Politics and Education

Morrissey College of Arts & Sciences

What is an appropriate education for free citizens? That question has become newly controversial at a time when many formally shared assumptions, both political and moral, are in disarray. Is common public education of some sort wise, or necessary? And if so, what sort? Is it even possible under present political conditions? Is leaving education largely to the individual states sufficient to support constructive civic disagreement? Alternatively, if future citizens are to be educated largely home (or privately) what sort of limits, if any, should be placed on parents? Where does religious liberty end and moral intolerance begin? Above all, is all good education necessarily indoctrination of some kind, as a Florida official recently implied? Or are civic education and liberal education dedicated to the search for truth mutually compatible?We will take up such questions this semester through a critical investigation of two seminal philosophic texts on education: John Locke's Some Thoughts Concerning Education, and Jean Jacques Rousseau's Emile, along with some supplementary philosophical and topical writings.