Contrasting Remedies to Social Tensions over Schooling

Abstract

A century ago, the United States and the Netherlands came to fundamentally different resolutions about the role of schools in dealing with social tensions and cleavages. Dutch schooling would be pluralistic, reflecting cultural and religious diversity, while the American “common school” would seek to reduce diversity by providing a uniform experience. What do those contrasting experiences have to teach us about current educational policy choices? The author argues for accommodating cultural divisions within American life by structural pluralism in education, thus providing schools capable of providing coherent education based on shared perspectives on the nature of a life well-lived.