Center for Ethics & Education: Debating Education: Is There a Role for Markets?

November 5, 2019, 5-6 pm

Memorial Union -- Check TITU

Harry Brighouse

UW-Madison Mildred Fish Harnack Professor of Philosophy, Affiliate Professor of Educational Policy Studies

The past 3 decades have seen a massive expansion in school choice and the use of markets in education. Programs such as parental choice programs, school vouchers, charter schools, and tax credits for private schools, were introduced to improve the education system. In their new book, philosophers David Schmidtz and Harry Brighouse present differing perspectives on the expansion of markets: Schmidtz arguing that it has been justified, Brighouse offering a more critical view. At this session Brighouse will introduce the book, explore how philosophical perspectives can inform our judgements about the evidence, and argue that while markets can sometimes serve our purposes, we should generally be skeptical that they will play a significant role in prompting improvement

Details available here.