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Judging School Discipline

cussed by Levinson and Levinson), or whether the obligation is simply to provide a good education for all children (as discussed by Macedo). The collection also addresses a number of concerns shared by educators, policymakers, and parents. Can private schools teach students to become “good Americans” as well as public schools can? O’Keefe provides statistics that show private school students are better at civics and politics than public school students. Will school choice affect the quality of education? Glenn uses cross-national evidence to argue that this will not happen. The essays are certainly a departure from the empirical, policy-oriented articles that have characterized school choice research in the past. However, in some cases, they seem to have moved from too applied to almost too abstract to be a constructive contribution to the debate. For example, in the section on school choice and equality, the very definition of “equality” is left too vague. As Weithman states in his response to the section, equality can mean anything from the equal distribution of test scores across racial categories to the equalization of opportunities for students who are equally able and motivated. It is this latter definition that Weithman argues is the most appropriate but also the most difficult to quantify. My main criticism of the collection is that the essays focus almost entirely on vouchers, particularly vouchers for private, religious schools. The two exceptions are Gutmann, who remarks that vouchers are just a small part of school choice, and Minow, who devotes part of her piece to the issue of charter schools. While charter schools, magnet schools, and choice between public schools may not be as controversial or morally questionable as vouchers, they also deserve some attention and discussion. It is not stated anywhere in the Introduction that the focus of the essays will be vouchers; indeed, the title School Choice: The Moral Debate implies that many facets of choice would be discussed. One of the dangers of writing about current political issues is that they tend to change rather quickly. This is unfortunately the case for two of the essays in the “Law” section (Perry and Salomone), which focus on the constitutionality of providing public funds to private, religious schools. The Supreme Court came to a decision regarding this issue in June 2002, after the two authors had written their essays, but apparently before Wolfe had completed his Introduction, as he mentions the Court’s decision. However, this does not detract from the thoroughness of legal research that is presented in the two pieces. This collection will be thought-provoking to anyone who is interested in issues of school choice specifically, or civic engagement more generally. I would also recommend pairing this book with a collection of empirical studies of school choice in sociology of education classes.