Freedom Of Education Research Articles

Who Sets the Limits of Educational Freedom?

This article is a response to Matusov's argument for a student's right to define the limits of their own education. While I agree with Matusov's premise, I argue that his solution is framed as a dualism, which may undermine the dialogic principles of his call to students' educational freedoms. I propose that viewing students' educational freedoms through Bakhtin's arhcitectonic self removes the dualism of Matusov's argument, and close by providing an example of the architectonic self in practice within the teacher-student relationship.

Exploration of students’ thoughts about their right to freedom of education

In this reflective paper, I respond to Dr. Matusov’s (2020) eloquent philosophical exploration of “students’ right to freedom of education. In doing so, I pursue a narrative inquiry (Bruner, 1987; Clandinin, Murphy, Huber, & Orr, 2010; Clandinin, 2013; Hong, Falter, & Fecho, 2017) to explore my students’ self-generated meanings of their educational freedom in our teacher education classroom. I wonder whether freedom of education can be presented as a transcendental concept of self-examination and taught as the student’s right for it without a critical deconstruction of the tentious and fictitious materiality of freedom. Also, I wonder what my students think when they are provoked to claim their right to freedom of education. This reflection reveals that students’ right of freedom is not necessarily about their own self-examination, freedom is a creative force of self-expression. More specifically, freedom is the self-conscious act of discovery of itself (i.e., freedom) in everything my students do as a part of their classroom learning and education. All in all, freedom does not have any meaning at all since meaning emerges in the act of freedom itself, or rather in the creative act of being free.

A Student's Response to Dr. Matusov’s article, “A Student’s Right to Freedom of Education”

This essay is a commentary on Dr. Matusov’s article “A Student’s Right to Freedom of Education”, and it will reflect on Dr. Cresswell’s and Dr. Dyck’s technology-free classroom experiment as well as some of the thoughts and opinions expressed in Dr. Matusov’s article. In particular, this essay will examine and raise some objections to Dr. Matusov’s thoughts and opinions and argue for a more nuanced and tempered view of the nature of the student’s right to freedom of education. The technology-free experiment and Dr. Matusov’s objection to it will be explored and met with arguments in support of the experiment and the possible benefits of a technology-free learning environment. The remainder of the essay will largely consider Dr. Matusov’s thoughts on the student’s right to freedom of education and will offer arguments both for and against some of Dr. Matusov’s thoughts expressed in his article. Finally, an argument for a more holistic and structured view of authority and freedom in education will be discussed, using some studies on the Finnish education system as an example of one approach to improving education.

Response to “A Student’s Right to Freedom of Education”

Dr. Eugene Matusov’s article “A Student’s Right to Freedom of Education,” promotes a system of education which is vastly different from how education has been generally approached for the past century. Matusov writes that freedom in education is an integral part to what education means (Matusov, SF3). This is my response to his article.

O granicach wolności w wychowaniu. Kilka uwag na marginesie rozprawy Bogdana Nawroczyńskiego Swoboda i przymus w wychowaniu

The aim of the article is to present a classic pedagogical concept entitled Freedom and compulsion in education by Bogdan Nawroczyński, an outstanding founder of Polish pedagogy, and to indicate its topicality in the postmodern world. Nawroczyński’s dissertation should be a compulsory reading for students of pedagogy who would have an opportunity to learn about the contribution of this outstanding scientist to the development of Polish pedagogy. Presenting the complexity of the issue of education in the postmodern world in the context of Nawroczyński’s dissertation proves the importance and validity of his concept. The article is mainly based on an analysis of Nawroczyński’s original dissertation, published in 1929, accompanied by the approach of contemporary researchers on the subject of freedom in education.

A student’s and a teacher's right to freedom of education

This conceptual essay, which opens the special issue, examines why a student’s right to freedom of education – the right for a student to define their own education – is so crucial for the education itself. Four diverse educational approaches are considered: training, closed socialization, open socialization, and critical examination, along with the Bakhtinian dialogic pedagogy to reveal the need for freedom of education within each of the approaches and the pedagogy. The eight aspects of the right to freedom are explicated. Three major objections against the right are considered and rebuked: 1) the Kantian paradox of autonomy and paternalism in education, 2) the paradox of learning and ignorance, and 3) fear of non-participation in education without coercion. The legitimate limitations of the right are discussed. Finally, the two major pathways to the right – radical and gradual – are analyzed.
 I sent the earlier draft of the paper to the Dialogic Pedagogy journal community, asking for critical commentaries. Many people submitted their critical commentaries involving their agreements, disagreements, associative readings, extensions, evaluations, and so on. My paper, their commentaries constitute this special, and my reply constitutes this special issue. Three people – David Kirshner, Belkacem TAIEB, and Jim Rietmulder – chose to provide commentaries on the margins. I included most of their comments on the margins as a new genre to promote a critical dialogue in our readers. Also, Belkacem TAIEB and Matthew Shumski submitted short commentaries that I included, below, at the end of this article as Appendix I and II. Jim Cresswell shared the manuscript with his undergraduate psychology students, and one student volunteered to add her commentary. Shelly Price-Jones shared it with her international undergraduate students studying English at a South Korean university. Twenty-one of them chose to provide a video reply. I selected a few of them that attracted my attention. Finally, I chose to address some of the issues brought in the presented critical commentaries either as my reply on the margins or at the end of this special issue. This should not be taken as “the final word” in the debate, but rather a dialogic response inviting other responses in the authors and in the audience.

Reaffirming the First Freedom: The Implications of Espinoza v. Montana Department of Revenue and Our Lady of Guadalupe School v. Morrissey-Berru

At the end of its 2019–20 Term the Supreme Court rendered two decisions on religious freedom in education. In Espinoza v. Montana Department of Revenue, the Court upheld Montana’s Tax Credit Program allowing taxpayers to deduct dollar-for-dollar state income tax credits of up to $150 to fund scholarships to pay tuition of students in nonpublic schools. In Our Lady of Guadalupe School v. Morrissey-Berru, the Court interpreted the First Amendment as barring the judiciary from intervening in employment disputes between faith-based schools and their teachers. This article reviews these cases before reflecting on their implications, ending with a brief conclusion.

A Russellian Plea for ‘Useless’ Knowledge: Role of Freedom in Education

While thrusting the importance of knowledge, Bertrand Russell highlights one special utility of it, i.e., knowledge promotes a widely contemplative habit of mind; and such knowledge, he terms ‘useless’. For Russell, the habit of contemplation is the capacity of rationalized enquiry which enables individuals to consider all questions in a tentative and impartial manner, frees them from dogmas and encourages the expression of a wide diversity of views. Besides ‘useless’ knowledge, Russell admits the importance of ‘useful’ knowledge too, but his appreciation for the intrinsic value of ‘useless’ knowledge more than the extrinsic value of ‘useful’ one brings to light the significance of knowing, i.e., to know is to know something for its own sake. Pursuit of such knowledge is possible only in case of ‘useless’ knowledge; and not in case of ‘useful’ one. Highlighting contemplative habit of mind as the greatest advantage of ‘useless’ knowledge, Russell says that such habit, in order to get accelerated, has to be guided by education; but education without freedom cannot perform the job. To be free, according to Russell, means, to be free from the forces of tradition; and also from the tyranny of one’s own passions. Freedom is thus seen to be the cardinal force in fostering contemplative habit, and is closely found to have been associated with ‘useless’ knowledge. In the present paper, by highlighting the nature of contemplative habit of mind, I have argued that ‘useless’ knowledge has to be appreciated more than ‘useful’ knowledge. Moreover, I have shown why freedom in education has to be considered a necessity for accelerating habit of contemplation.

PROFESSORIAL CORPORATION AND REFORM OF THE EDUCATION SYSTEM AT UNIVERSITIES AT THE TURN OF THE XIX-XX CENTURIES

In the late XIX - early XX centuries the Ministry of Education could no longer reform education system without relying on the opinion of the professorial corporation. The largest sessions created by the Ministry to find out the point of view of professors on the most problematic issues of university life took place in 1901 and 1906. The purpose of these sessions was to revise the university statute of 1884, but neither in the first nor in the second case did the new statute appear. The materials of the first session were buried in the Ministry, but according to the results of the second session, a subject educational system was proclaimed. Under the conditions of that time (1906), along with other easing of university administration, it was a significant step forward towards university autonomy and the freedom of education expressed in the subject system. This article provides an analysis of the opinions of professors of universities of the Russian Empire which were gathered during those two sessions and reflecting the points of view of the professorial corporation about the reform of the educational system.

Manuais de ensino de História oitocentistas: reflexões sobre o cristianismo na história escolar no Império do Brasil

Este texto apresenta resultados de uma investigação acerca dos compêndios de História Universal, de Victor Duruy e Pedro Parley, aprovados e adotados pelo Estado Imperial brasileiro para o ensino da História nas escolas secundárias de 1854 a 1878. Neste período, aconteceram as Reformas Educacionais de Couto Ferraz (1854) e de Leôncio de Carvalho de 1878. Analisa-se, então, no contexto dessas Reformas, o papel dos Manuais didáticos, na disseminação do Cristianismo, do ideal de Nação e de cidadania, a partir da histórica escolar. Para impor ideias e preceitos politicas e culturais o Estado Imperial aprovou o Regulamento da Instrução Primária e Secundária, cuja responsabilidade era fiscalizar e orientar o ensino público e particular nos níveis primário e secundário, estabelecendo normas para o exercício da liberdade de ensino.

The model of justice in Mordovian ethnic tales

Introduction. The research is determined by the current trends of globalization and the need to build a dialogue of cultures based on justice and giving the priority to the local models of justice. The subject of the research is the model of justice in Moksha and Erzia tales. The purpose of the work is to identify different models of justice of the Moksha and Erzia ethnic groups, their identity and the difference with models of other cultures, to generalize the content of the category of justice in the Mordovian ethnoculture. Materials and Methods. The research material includes Mordovian folk tales. The method of analysis is applied to identify the models of justice in the studied material. When comparing the similar tales of different cultures, we use the method of comparison and the principle of the reduction of the identities, which detects differences in the similarities; the method of generalization allows us to systematize the results, the method of synthesis lets us draw conclusions. The model of justice in folklore and tales has not been studied much, so the theoretical basis of the research covers the works devoted to the analysis of Mordovian folklore as a whole as well as various studies of the category of justice. Results and Discussion. The model of Mordovian justice includes collective labor, mutual assistance, collective ownership and self-government, creative work and a decent remuneration, ethnic education, upbringing in the tradition, freedom of the development, the perfectionism and the vertical social mobility, the reward of the virtue and the denunciation of the vice, fair judgment, everyone’s equality in the court, the marriage of the equals, reproduction, the identity and the identification, the unity of the human and the nature. The private ownership of resources, the work that does not save from poverty, unfair courts, restrictions on the freedom of development and education, the abuse of children and women, and the neglect of the elderly are assessed as unfair. Conclusion. The set of models obtained in accordance with different cultural approaches allows us to obtain a dimensial, complete, systematic image of ethno-cultural justice which provides us a better understanding of the culture of the people. The research has shown that the models of justice in Moksha and Erzia folklore are similar. It has revealed the general content of the Mordovian models of justice, as well as the unique features of the Moksha and Erzia models, their identity and differences with the models of other cultures.

School of choice or schools’ choice? Intersectional correspondence testing on ethnic and class discrimination in the enrolment procedure to Flemish kindergarten

ABSTRACT Most research on intake focusses on the restrictions parents’ capital cause on their abilities to choose. However, the steering effect of schools in the choice-process has been neglected. We chose the Flemish context to investigate ethnic- and class-discrimination in the enrolment to kindergarten (N = 2243). The Flemish education system is known for its exceptional ‘freedom of choice’ allowing parents to enrol their children into their school of preference without restrictions. Simultaneously, the education system is highly decentralized due to the principle of ‘freedom of education’ that grants high levels of autonomy to schools in creating their school policies. Using correspondence testing, the results show that schools act as gatekeepers using subtle discriminatory strategies to keep students with an underprivileged background out.

Research Review of the Tolerance of Muslims with Non-Muslims in Spain and its Impacts

Islamic ideology is the basis and source of Islamic state, which sets out the rights of Muslims as well as the Dhimmis. Islam teaches the tolerance and fairness to non-Muslims citizens. Islam gives the non-Muslims religious freedom. Quran says, “There is no compulsion in Faith”. Prophet Muhammad (P.B.U.H) says, “If anyone wrongs a Mu'ahid, detracts from his rights, burdens him with more work than he is able to do, or takes something from him without his consent, I will plead for him on the Day of Resurrection”. Arab Muslims conquered Spain in 711 A.C. The Muslims defeated Christians there, while the Jews also existed there. When the Muslims (Moors) conquered this country, they behaved and treated the people here with fairness and tolerance. The tolerance of Muslims has had a profound impact on non-Muslims and the environment here. Many of non-Muslims converted to Islam with their own consent. Muslims gave them full enfranchise to worship according to their own religion; the priest did not need to hide their religious status. Muslim Spain had complete freedom of education which led to students coming from other countries for pursuit education. Non-Muslims adopted culture, living style and ways to dress of Muslims. They learned Arabic and began to read poetry in Arabic. Arabic literature translated into Hebrew and Latin by non-Muslims. In Muslim Spain there was freedom of expression. The Jewish scholar Ibn Naghrila spoke on the beliefs of Muslims under the Muslim rule in Spain.Hasdai ibn Shaprot (d.970) established a madrasa for Jews in Cordova to teach the Holy Scripture and Talmud. Katie Magnus (d.1924) says, “Like a dream in the night – Life in Spain”. Due to the tolerance of Muslims, Europeans became aware of civilization and from that time renaissance began. Muslims behaved non-Muslims with tolerance, contrary to non-Muslims, while they overcome on Muslims, wherever their attitude with Muslims is always regrettable. With the fall of the Muslim’s empire, Spain fell into the darkness of ignorance. Stanley lane-Poole (d.1931) says, “The Moors were banished, for a while the Christian Spain shone, like the Moon, with a borrowed light, then came the eclipse, and in that darkness Spain grovelled ever since”.

Freedom of speech, freedom to teach, freedom to learn: The crisis of higher education in the post-truth era

With increasing influence of illiberalism, freedom should not be considered or interpreted lightly. Post-truth contexts provide grounds for alt-right movements to capture and pervert notions of freedom of speech, making universities battlefields of politicised emotions and expressions (Peters et al., 2019). In societies facing these pressures around the world, academic freedom has never been challenged as much as it is today (Gibbs, 2019). As Peters and colleagues note (2019), conceptualisations of ‘facts’ and ‘evidences’ are politically, socially, and epistemically reconstructed in post-truth contexts. At the same time, with intelligence commodified, reified or marginalised, freedom of speech and of mobility can entail fights for entitlements, or escapes from local responsibilities (Calitz, 2018; Lo, 2019). The decline and corruptions of democratic free speech and academic freedom, or the absence of forces to defend them, are thus serious challenges. These challenges grow as the competition of ideas, sometimes under the rubric of academic freedom, often implies the power struggle and questioning of statuses in the so-called ‘marketplace of ideas’. Competition as a value invoked in some conceptualisations of freedom, becomes more important than human dignity, which was originally supposed to expand and strengthen under democratic conceptions of freedom in higher education (Macfarlane, 2016). What had been happening to freedoms, of speech, teaching, and learning, across different subject positions and cultures of higher education, remains largely underexplored, as alt-right movements, neoliberalism and illiberalism, and post-truthism values and orientations expand.

Unlocking the Legal Deadlock over Dreadlocks in Kenyan Schools: Constitutional Law, Rastafarians, and Religious Freedom

Abstract Legal recognition of Rastafari as a religion is a crucial step in enabling its adherents to enjoy the full scope of their religious freedom. This article considers and critiques the legal implications of the High Court of Kenya’s decision in JWM (alias P) v Board of Management O High School. In JWM, the headteacher of a secondary school decided that a Rastafarian girl who wore dreadlocks for religious reasons should be excluded from the school and only be readmitted once she had cut them as her hairstyle breached school rules. The High Court concluded that this was a violation of the student’s right to education and religious freedom. Though welcoming the JWM verdict as legally correct, this article reflects critically on how the Court arrived at its conclusion. It reviews the High Court’s reasoning in JWM and offers a constructive analysis of the likely effect of JWM on Kenyan education institutions and their uniform policies. The article advocates the need for principled, context-sensitive and methodical approaches to adjudicating freedom of religion claims so as to protect the rights of religious believers and secularists alike.

Análise do currículo de matemática para o ensino médio do Estado de São Paulo: pressupostos teóricos e metodológicos

No presente artigo apresentamos uma análise do Currículo de Matemática do Estado de São Paulo para o Ensino Médio, que está em vigência desde 2008, com o objetivo de discutir o processo de elaboração e desenvolvimento do Currículo, seus pressupostos teóricos e a visão de Matemática e de ensino de Matemática que embasam o documento. Para isso, adotamos a metodologia de análise documental. Por meio da nossa análise, é possível apontarmos que, no Currículo, não está claro o que se entende como habilidades e competências, que a falta de materiais de apoio para o professor são um obstáculo para a implementação efetiva dos pressupostos do Currículo e que ainda que o Currículo preconize a liberdade de escolha de abordagem metodológica por parte do professor, o material adotado em sala de aula (Caderno do Aluno/Caderno do Professor) limita as opções de trabalho dos professores.

Rejecting “Controversial” Issues in Education: A Case Study of Ultra-Orthodox Jewish Schools in Belgium

In liberal democracies, fundamental rights and freedoms can conflict, and if they do, it is not always clear which right the state should prioritize. Should the right of parents to choose education in line with their own convictions prevail, or should the right of children to be prepared for a future life in a liberal democratic society be given more moral weight? While the former might lead to establishing and subsidizing orthodox religious schools, the latter implies “liberal”, “autonomy-facilitating” education. In order to make this tension concrete, we focus on a case study of an ultra-orthodox Jewish (Haredi) school in Flanders (Belgium), where “controversial issues” are excluded from the curriculum and where education is not fully in line with the core principles of “liberal education”. Subsequently, we explore the legal educational context in liberal democracies, with a particular focus on the freedom of religion and education. Then, we scrutinize several arguments for or against ultra-orthodox faith-based schools. We conclude that there are no convincing arguments for state support for these kinds of schools and that the recent Flemish policy of homeschooling might be a reasonable alternative, wherein a balance is found between children’s rights and parental rights.

Book Review: We want to do more than survive: Abolitionist teaching and the pursuit of educational freedom

Book Review: <i>We want to do more than survive: Abolitionist teaching and the pursuit of educational freedom</i>

Understanding Democracy in Dutch Curriculum Change through a Delphi Method

Citizenship education is an important part of current debates about future education. In contrast, educational philosopher Gert Biesta calls for a shift “from teaching citizenship to learning democracy”. This study wants to contribute to this shift. A Delphi-method is applied on a Dutch case study, presenting a way to collect and analyze data from experts that can be applied in different political, cultural and geographical contexts. The Delphi panel consists of experts from three categories of expertise in the field of democracy and Dutch education. A thematic analysis of the data collected through two succeeding rounds showed four emerging themes when turning the scope from citizenship to democracy: the distribution of responsibility of teachers and school leaders, the questions revolving around the freedom of education secured by the Dutch constitution, the nature of citizenship education, and most importantly, the school as a playground to practice democracy. This final theme was singled out by the experts as a higher purpose of democracy in education. This study argues that the concept of the school as a playground to practice democracy should be the focus to make the shift from teaching citizenship to learning democracy.

Causes of Child Marriage and Its Effects on the Child in Jigawa State, North West Nigeria: Implications for Counselling

This research sought to find out the causes of child marriage and its effects on the child in Jigawa State, North-West Nigeria. In order to carry out this investigation, the researcher formulated two research questions and one hypothesis to guide the investigation. An instrument tagged “Causes of Child Marriage And Its Effects On The Child” (COCMAIETCQ) was constructed by the investigator to collect information from the respondents. The instrument has 21 items, 10 on the causes of child marriage and 11 on effects of child marriage. The researcher conducted a reliability test on the instrument using split – half method to get a reliability coefficient of 0.79. The researcher used the purposive sampling technique to select 270 married men and women that took part in the research. The investigator used 3 research assistants to administer 270 copies of the questionnaire on the respondents in the urban, semi – urban and rural areas of Jigawa State. The research assistants retrieved 72, 88 and 71 copies of the questionnaire from the respondents in urban, semi – urban and rural areas respectively. The researcher collated the data from the field work, used the mean and standard deviation to answer the research questions while one – way Analysis of Variance (ANOVA) was used to test the hypothesis at 0.05 level of significance. The investigator used 2.50 as benchmark to know if respondents agreed or disagreed with each of the 21 items of the instrument. The investigation revealed that there is child marriage due to poverty of parents with mean score of 3.18, Islamic religion allows child marriage with mean score of 2.90, and high bride price encourages child marriage with mean score of 2.65. The research equally revealed that young married girls may develop obstetric fistula due to prolonged delivery with mean score of 3.22, early marriage of girls could lead to their drop – out from school with mean score of 3.19 and child marriage violates women’s right to consensual marriage with mean score of 2.99. One of the recommendations was that the Jigawa State government should enact a law that prohibits child marriage so that women’s rights to freedom of education are not violated.