Oakeshott, Schumacher, and an examination of the tension between the “college and career readiness” consensus and school choice in American education policy

Abstract

American education policy at the elite level has coalesced around a consensus valuing “college and career readiness” as the primary metric and value for American schools. This “readiness” is often defined by economic outcomes or by standardized test measures (which serve as predictors for economic outcomes). Policy actors at the local, state, and national levels are pursuing more centralized methods to reach goals based on these value assumptions. At the same time, more individualized programs and more forms of school choice are being implemented across the nation. This theoretical paper explores criticisms of this approach from both the political left and right, as well as the inherent tension between the desire for centralized standardization and outcomes measured by economic outcomes on one hand, and the growing desire among families for individualized, varied, and self-directed schooling experiences on the other.