Defending Public Education

Jeff Swensson is a veteran educator who has served in public schools throughout the Midwest. He is the co-author or author of six books that focus on instruction, curriculum, leadership, finance, student learning, and contemporary issues in traditional public education.

• DedicationAcknowledgementsTable of ContentsPrologueIntroduction: Just Look Inside This Book and You Will See…Section One—Balance?Chapter 1: About Teeter-Totters and Educational ChoiceThe History of US Education Is its TopographyParents and CaregiversA Small Piece of DemocracyChapter 2: The Common GoodThe Rule of LawAbout Free Market EducationAbout-Face in the MarketplaceChapter 3: The Best Interests of…Informal and Formal EducationWho Knows Better What Are Best Interests?Closely-Held Beliefs Know Best InterestsNetworks Know Best InterestsPartisanship Knows Best InterestsUS Education Knows Best InterestsFollowing a Long Arc to Best InterestsDisrupting the ArcIt’s Not Education, It’s Shopping!Buying Best Interests: Boutique-IdeologyChapter 4: PartisanshipThe Way Things Were Is the Way They’re Supposed to BeWhen Enough Is EnoughThe Fly in the Ointment for Partisanship: LearningWhere Learning ThrivesPartisanship Can’t FunctionRepairing Function: One-Faith EducationRepairing Function: Push-Back Against the ArcThe CRT Straw ManAdult-Centric EducationPartisans RecoilFor Partisans, the Present Is Downright ScaryCertainty About What There Is to FearPartisans Can See Clearly NowChapter 5: I See These Threats Looking at MeIntellectual AutonomyCompelling State InterestThe Outside-WorldPartisanship AccommodationsDown a Fear-Filled Rabbit HoleTo Restore Partisanship in US EducationChapter 6: Revolt of the LikemindedNo Likeminded Parent Left BehindLimiting the Universe of DiscourseRejecting How to Think and the Common GoodThe Art of the Straw ManOrthodoxy Trumps Majority RuleSection Two—Deus Ex Machina in the Script for PartisanshipChapter 7: Preemptive CensorshipOh Where, Oh Where Has Thinking Gone?Discriminatory Thinking, Anyone?What If Preemption Doesn’t Work?Chapter 8: Anarchic DissentAnarchic Dissent Is as Partisanship DoesThe Ideological Foundation of Anarchic DissentPublic DissonancePublic Dissonance on Behalf of Parental RightsAnarchic Dissent: Ideological “Demo-Day”A Six-Pound Partisan Sledge HammerA Twelve-Pound Partisan Sledge HammerThe Granddaddy of All Partisan Sledge HammersThe Anarchic Dissonance of “Liberty”Saving Public Education by Destroying ItChapter 9: Rights and US EducationThe Exclusive Rights of PartisanshipThe Right to Perpetual WinningStandardized Testing: Brass Knuckles in Partisan Boxing GlovesThe Right to Determine LosersThe Right to Defund LosersThe Right to What-to-ThinkThe Right to Dumb-Down LearningA Circular Bill of Rights: Partisanship’s Gift to EducationSection Three—The Foes of Traditional Public EducationChapter 10: Partisan EducationMore to Ideology than Meets the EyePartisan Education: A Transactional RelationshipTransactional Relationships Are ExclusionaryA Pox on the House of Intellectual AutonomyThe Ethos of Partisan EducationPartisan Education: What Is Right and What Is TrueOrthodoxy: Limitless or Limited?Weaponizing Partisan EducationA Retreat from ConscienceCommitment to PreemptionRetreating Is “Winning”Money: The Partisanship Weapon for ChoiceJust How Much Does All This Cost?Section Four—Religion, Courts, the Feds, and Public SchoolChapter 11: Evolution—The Faithful Sound the AlarmFaithful Partisanship, Evolution, and LearningWhat Science SaysAlarming Court DecisionsWhose Faith for Public Education?Putting Faith in the CourtsChapter 12: Schools and Rights—Burdens, Exposure, and Compulsory ConductA Two-Prong TestWhen Public Education Meets the US ConstitutionThe US Supreme Court and US EducationThe First AmendmentHazelwood School District v. KuhlmeierBoard of Education v. PicoThe Third AmendmentThe Fourteenth AmendmentChapter 13: To Reform or Not to Reform?The Destination Is Reform. Are We There Yet?I’m Free to Be Me and You’re Free to Be MePartisans Are the publicPartisan Things Are Not Public ThingsWhen Reform Is Not PartisanThe Amish and ReformIn the Aftermath of YoderHasidic Communities and ReformIn the Aftermath of Yeshiva EducationThe Compelling Interests of PartisanshipSEL: A Fear-Inducing BogeymanThe Unheralded Resource for PartisanshipA Comeuppance for PartisanshipSection Five—US Education: Journey or Destination?Chapter 14: The Compass Rose: PurposeThe Journey of Constitutional DemocracyThe Journey of Civic RespectThe Journey of Citizenship EducationThe Effects of Citizenship EducationNecessary NeutralityBalance-as-EquityThe Journey of Open FuturesThe Journey of “We” in the Common GoodChapter 15: To Defend Public Education—Good DissentGood Dissent and Public ThingsThe Role of Good Dissent Is the Role of Public EducationSection Six—Across the Great DivideChapter 16: The Chasm“Self” Government…or…Self-GovernmentStatic-Balance…or…Precarious-BalanceUniversal Singularity…or…Government that WorksChapter 17: Critical QuestionsQuestion #1: Is Social Reality Fixed or Unfixed?Question #2: Is Liberty Constraint or Coercion?Constraint and Coercion in Partisan EducationConstraint and Coercion in Traditional Public EducationQuestion #3: Does Education Assume a Value of Justice?Epilogue

Public education has never faced so many threats and attacks. Under the guise of “parental rights” and “reform,” the enemies of public education seek to defund, demoralize, and destroy our most important public institution. Senior scholar and former public school administrator Dr. Jeff Swensson explains the full scope of these assaults and provides an insightful path forward. If you seek to fully understand what is at stake in the battle for quality, inclusive public education, Defending Public Education is a must-read.