The Dialectic of Parent Rights and Societal Obligation:.x000d.Constraining Educational Choice.

In this paper I show how the right of parents to educationally advantage their own children and the principle of equality of opportunity, while both important to liberal political democracy, come into conflict around issues of education. I argue that the existence of private schools, school choice policies and exclusive neighborhood, tax supported schools, satisfy the first principle but inhibit the second. The paper then deconstructs the notions of public and private and proposes an educational taxation policy modeled somewhat after Rawls’s difference principle that taxes educational advantage thus still allowing parents to advantage one’s own children while serving to advance principle of educational opportunity as well. Finally I show why it is permissible to tax the educationally advantaged without violating basic liberal ideals. ..PAT.-Unpublished Manuscript [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]