Liberalism versus democracy? Schooling private citizens in the public square

British Journal of Political Science

Volumn 27, Issue 3, 1997, Pages 333-360

  Levinson, Meira ^a  

^a NONE

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EID: 0031526115     PISSN: 00071234     EISSN: None     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1017/S0007123497000173     Document Type: Article

References (77)

1. Amy Gutmann, 'Civic Education and Social Diversity', Ethics, 105 (1995), 557-79; Nomi Maya Stolzenberg, ' "He Drew a Circle That Shut Me Out": Assimilation, Indoctrination, and the Paradox of a Liberal Education', Harvard Law Review, 106 (1993), 581-667; Stephen Macedo, 'Liberal Civic Education and Religious Fundamentalism: The Case of God v. John Rawls?' Ethics, 105 (1995), 468-96.
2. Amy Gutmann, 'Civic Education and Social Diversity', Ethics, 105 (1995), 557-79; Nomi Maya Stolzenberg, ' "He Drew a Circle That Shut Me Out": Assimilation, Indoctrination, and the Paradox of a Liberal Education', Harvard Law Review, 106 (1993), 581-667; Stephen Macedo, 'Liberal Civic Education and Religious Fundamentalism: The Case of God v. John Rawls?' Ethics, 105 (1995), 468-96.
3. Amy Gutmann, 'Civic Education and Social Diversity', Ethics, 105 (1995), 557-79; Nomi Maya Stolzenberg, ' "He Drew a Circle That Shut Me Out": Assimilation, Indoctrination, and the Paradox of a Liberal Education', Harvard Law Review, 106 (1993), 581-667; Stephen Macedo, 'Liberal Civic Education and Religious Fundamentalism: The Case of God v. John Rawls?' Ethics, 105 (1995), 468-96.
4. In the interests of emphasizing the role of the state school in establishing and maintaining the 'public square' and the public liberal democratic virtues, I choose to use the American term 'public' school in place of the British 'state' school to designate state-maintained schools.
5. It is a bit misleading to refer to American school provision in national terms, as education is governed (and provided) almost entirely at the state level. Because the features of school provision that I want to examine, however, are fairly uniform across the country - both because constitutional restrictions such as the First Amendment place limits upon public school policy, and because larger states exercise significant indirect power over smaller states' education policy (through textbook selection, for example) - I will speak in this article as if the United States has an identifiable national educational policy.
6. French and American policies in particular towards private schools are both historically and normatively at odds with their public educational commitments. It is only because on 24 June 1984 one million people marched in Paris against the suggested closure of Catholic schools, that they still exist at all; likewise, it is because public schools in the United States were anti-Catholic from their foundation until the middle of this century (and thus violated their self-professed neutralist commitments) that the private and parochial school movement took hold in America. In neither case does the position of private schools reflect or advance each country's public educational aims, despite their giving dissenting families a private educational outlet. It does not make sense, therefore, to try to integrate public and private education policies into a single, coherent model, because no such coherent, principled stance exists. (England's sympathetic attitude towards private schooling, by contrast, is completely consistent with its approach to public education, as Section I will show.)
7. In this sense political liberalism is often contrasted with comprehensive liberalism - i.e., liberalism stemming from a commitment to autonomy or other comprehensive conception of the good life - which theorists such as Rawls and Macedo argue cannot reasonably secure the support (even hypothetically) of all members of society. It is in terms of this contrast that political liberalism should be understood in this article. I have intentionally not grounded it in a more specific theoretical framework or author (such as Rawls's Political Liberalism) because it is political liberalism's general implications, as opposed to any particular formulation, that I am interested in examining in this article.
8. This model of schooling also seems to be most like that for which William Galston calls. See William Galston, Liberal Purposes (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1991), pp. 241-56.
9. Financing and governance of religious schools, for example, is somewhat complicated; depending on the extent of church contribution to the maintenance of the school, the governing body is either church-dominated or state-dominated, and curriculum decisions are concomitantly more or less church influenced. See Education Act 1944 (London: HMSO) and Education Reform Act 1988 (London: HMSO).
10. Lord Swann, Education for All (London: HMSO, 1985), p. 499.
11. The fate of Muslim schooling in England is a complex one that itself symbolizes many of the conflicting pulls within liberalism discussed in this article. In a longer article, it would be illuminating to discuss Muslim schools' supposed violation of the principles of equal and democratic education, and the implications of this judgement for the place of Muslim families and citizens within the liberal polity in general.
12. See Education Reform Act 1988, Section 30, subsection (3): 'A local education authority shall, if so requested by the governors of an aided or special agreement school maintained by the authority, make arrangements with the governors in respect of the admission of pupils to the school for preserving the character of the school.'
13. Department for Education, Statistics of Education: Schools (London: HMSO, 1993), pp. 140-2.
14. Again, I do not mean to suggest that all (or even a majority of) English schools fit this model in practice, nor that English society is as radically divided as this description might imply. As I explained above, what is of significance in this article is not the empirical outcome of these models of schooling, but their theoretical limits; i.e. English education is structured so as to permit the effective privatization of nominally public schools, and thus also to permit the establishment of the divided pluralism I will describe below.
15. Margaret Thatcher, The Downing Street Years (London: Harper Collins, 1993), p. 570.
16. Education Act 1980 (London: HMSO), sec. 17.
17. Department for Education, Our Children's Education: The Updated Parent's Charter (London: HMSO, 1994), p. 7.
18. Education Act 1980, secs. 6-7.
19. 'Parent Power', The Economist, 25 March 1995, p. 17.
20. Disillusion with the class-based homogeneity of selective grammar schools was one of the primary reasons for Labour's introduction of non-selective 'comprehensive' schools in the 1960s. As the 1967 Plowden Report made clear, 'Selection for secondary education ... has been criticized as being socially divisive both because it gives middle class children a better chance than manual workers' children to secure grammar school places, and because it gives better career openings to grammar school than to modern school pupils. The same arguments are also used against selection for primary school classes, or streaming.' (Central Advisory Committee for Education, Children and their Primary Schools (Plowden Report) (London: HMSO, 1967), p. 288, paragraph 809.) See also Department of Education and Science, The Organization of Secondary Education, Circular 10/65 (London: HMSO, 1965); J. Stuart Maclure, Educational Documents (London: Methuen, 1973); David Rubinstein and Brian Simon, The Evolution of the Comprehensive School 1926-1966 (London: Routledge & Kegan Paul, 1969); Clyde Chitty, Towards a New Education System: The Victory of the New Right? (London: Falmer Press, 1989).
21. Disillusion with the class-based homogeneity of selective grammar schools was one of the primary reasons for Labour's introduction of non-selective 'comprehensive' schools in the 1960s. As the 1967 Plowden Report made clear, 'Selection for secondary education ... has been criticized as being socially divisive both because it gives middle class children a better chance than manual workers' children to secure grammar school places, and because it gives better career openings to grammar school than to modern school pupils. The same arguments are also used against selection for primary school classes, or streaming.' (Central Advisory Committee for Education, Children and their Primary Schools (Plowden Report) (London: HMSO, 1967), p. 288, paragraph 809.) See also Department of Education and Science, The Organization of Secondary Education, Circular 10/65 (London: HMSO, 1965); J. Stuart Maclure, Educational Documents (London: Methuen, 1973); David Rubinstein and Brian Simon, The Evolution of the Comprehensive School 1926-1966 (London: Routledge & Kegan Paul, 1969); Clyde Chitty, Towards a New Education System: The Victory of the New Right? (London: Falmer Press, 1989).
22. Disillusion with the class-based homogeneity of selective grammar schools was one of the primary reasons for Labour's introduction of non-selective 'comprehensive' schools in the 1960s. As the 1967 Plowden Report made clear, 'Selection for secondary education ... has been criticized as being socially divisive both because it gives middle class children a better chance than manual workers' children to secure grammar school places, and because it gives better career openings to grammar school than to modern school pupils. The same arguments are also used against selection for primary school classes, or streaming.' (Central Advisory Committee for Education, Children and their Primary Schools (Plowden Report) (London: HMSO, 1967), p. 288, paragraph 809.) See also Department of Education and Science, The Organization of Secondary Education, Circular 10/65 (London: HMSO, 1965); J. Stuart Maclure, Educational Documents (London: Methuen, 1973); David Rubinstein and Brian Simon, The Evolution of the Comprehensive School 1926-1966 (London: Routledge & Kegan Paul, 1969); Clyde Chitty, Towards a New Education System: The Victory of the New Right? (London: Falmer Press, 1989).
23. Disillusion with the class-based homogeneity of selective grammar schools was one of the primary reasons for Labour's introduction of non-selective 'comprehensive' schools in the 1960s. As the 1967 Plowden Report made clear, 'Selection for secondary education ... has been criticized as being socially divisive both because it gives middle class children a better chance than manual workers' children to secure grammar school places, and because it gives better career openings to grammar school than to modern school pupils. The same arguments are also used against selection for primary school classes, or streaming.' (Central Advisory Committee for Education, Children and their Primary Schools (Plowden Report) (London: HMSO, 1967), p. 288, paragraph 809.) See also Department of Education and Science, The Organization of Secondary Education, Circular 10/65 (London: HMSO, 1965); J. Stuart Maclure, Educational Documents (London: Methuen, 1973); David Rubinstein and Brian Simon, The Evolution of the Comprehensive School 1926-1966 (London: Routledge & Kegan Paul, 1969); Clyde Chitty, Towards a New Education System: The Victory of the New Right? (London: Falmer Press, 1989).
24. Disillusion with the class-based homogeneity of selective grammar schools was one of the primary reasons for Labour's introduction of non-selective 'comprehensive' schools in the 1960s. As the 1967 Plowden Report made clear, 'Selection for secondary education ... has been criticized as being socially divisive both because it gives middle class children a better chance than manual workers' children to secure grammar school places, and because it gives better career openings to grammar school than to modern school pupils. The same arguments are also used against selection for primary school classes, or streaming.' (Central Advisory Committee for Education, Children and their Primary Schools (Plowden Report) (London: HMSO, 1967), p. 288, paragraph 809.) See also Department of Education and Science, The Organization of Secondary Education, Circular 10/65 (London: HMSO, 1965); J. Stuart Maclure, Educational Documents (London: Methuen, 1973); David Rubinstein and Brian Simon, The Evolution of the Comprehensive School 1926-1966 (London: Routledge & Kegan Paul, 1969); Clyde Chitty, Towards a New Education System: The Victory of the New Right? (London: Falmer Press, 1989).
25. Ron Dearing, The National Curriculum and Its Assessment: Final Report (London: School Curriculum and Assessment Authority, 1994), paragraphs 2.2, 3.24, 4.28-29; Thatcher, Downing Street Years, p. 594.
26. Ron Dearing, The National Curriculum and Its Assessment: Final Report (London: School Curriculum and Assessment Authority, 1994), paragraphs 2.2, 3.24, 4.28-29; Thatcher, Downing Street Years, p. 594.
27. For more on the structure of the National Curriculum, see Jim Sweetman, Curriculum Confidential Two: The Complete Guide to the National Curriculum (Tamworth, Staffs.: Bracken Press, 1992).
28. What little guidance is given is to be found in the National Curriculum Council's Education for Citizenship: Curriculum Guidance 8 (London: National Curriculum Council, 1990).
29. It is possible, of course, to integrate citizenship education into the curriculum under a different name - through history and literature classes, social studies, and so forth. While some of this might go on in the National Curriculum as it stands, I suggest that for three reasons, it still does not satisfy the demands of civics education. First, students in English schools do not learn about the parliamentary system, the structures of state and local government, the passage of a bill through Parliament, etc., unless they specifically take an A-level course in British politics. This seems an unacceptable lacuna in any curriculum that is meant to restore public character to and inculcate civic virtues within an otherwise (potentially) privatized school system. Secondly and relatedly, civic concerns have thus far been addressed in the National Curriculum foundation subjects only within the history curriculum - a practice that may engineer the illusion of a common past, but which does not succeed in building a conception among students of a shared, public present or future. Finally, in so far as the National Curriculum itself provides for citizenship education as a separate, albeit cross-curricular, 'theme', the criticisms above of its (lack of) inclusion in the curriculum continue to hold true.
30. National Curriculum Council, Curriculum Guidance 3 (London: National Curriculum Council, 1990).
31. It might be argued that such interactions can and do take place outside the school - in the neighbourhood, or in mandatory national service programmes evident in countries like Israel and Switzerland - and thus that it is unnecessary for the school in particular to take responsibility for establishing a heterogeneous setting in which children are intentionally exposed to difference and taught to be tolerant. While it is true that schools are not the only social institutions to teach toleration and expose children to diversity, they none the less strike me as being one of the most important. Not only are they under direct state control - and can therefore explicitly adopt the aims of political liberalism as their own - but they also reach children when they are very young, as national service programmes, integrated workplaces and other institutions do not. Although this is not an analytic argument, I would suggest on pragmatic grounds at least that schools must play a central role in teaching toleration and bringing different groups together in one place.
32. Theodore R. Sizer, Horace's School: Redesigning the American High School (Boston, Mass.: Houghton Mifflin, 1992), p. 69 (italics mine). On the subject and importance of habits, see also John Dewey, Human Nature and Conduct (New York: Random House, 1922), Part I; Aristotle, Nichomachean Ethics, revised trans. J. Barnes (Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 1984), 1103a15-1104b3, 1179b20-1180a23.
33. Theodore R. Sizer, Horace's School: Redesigning the American High School (Boston, Mass.: Houghton Mifflin, 1992), p. 69 (italics mine). On the subject and importance of habits, see also John Dewey, Human Nature and Conduct (New York: Random House, 1922), Part I; Aristotle, Nichomachean Ethics, revised trans. J. Barnes (Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 1984), 1103a15-1104b3, 1179b20-1180a23.
34. Theodore R. Sizer, Horace's School: Redesigning the American High School (Boston, Mass.: Houghton Mifflin, 1992), p. 69 (italics mine). On the subject and importance of habits, see also John Dewey, Human Nature and Conduct (New York: Random House, 1922), Part I; Aristotle, Nichomachean Ethics, revised trans. J. Barnes (Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 1984), 1103a15-1104b3, 1179b20-1180a23.
35. It might be argued that religion is a special case in both countries - in the United States because of the First Amendment of the US Constitution; in France for historical reasons stemming from the French Revolution, anti-Catholicism and the 'republican school' ideal promulgated by Jules Ferry in the 1870s. (See Mona Ozouf, L'École, l'Église et la République (Paris: Éditions Cana/Jean Offredo, 1982); Eugen Weber, Peasants into Frenchmen (London: Chatto & Windus, 1979).) None the less, both the United States and France pursue educational neutrality in relation to other cultural practices, 'lifestyle choices' and community mores as well.
36. It might be argued that religion is a special case in both countries - in the United States because of the First Amendment of the US Constitution; in France for historical reasons stemming from the French Revolution, anti-Catholicism and the 'republican school' ideal promulgated by Jules Ferry in the 1870s. (See Mona Ozouf, L'École, l'Église et la République (Paris: Éditions Cana/Jean Offredo, 1982); Eugen Weber, Peasants into Frenchmen (London: Chatto & Windus, 1979).) None the less, both the United States and France pursue educational neutrality in relation to other cultural practices, 'lifestyle choices' and community mores as well.
37. The assumption that neutrality can mean equality even in theory has, of course, been sharply questioned for years by critics of liberalism and of liberal education. Stolzenberg is especially suspicious of 'neutral' education (see fn. 1), contending that from the (reasonable) perspective of fundamentalist Christian parents, schooling in the United States that is neutral among all religious beliefs is patently unequal in relation to their own. In many ways the success of this anti-neutralist argument directly entails the failure of the public square as a theoretical possibility: if neutrality can never translate to equality, then the public square as a space equally open and accessible to all citizens is also a theoretical (as well as practical) impossibility. In so far as this argument could very well put the lie to political liberalism as a coherent theory, it is an essential one to consider. In an article such as this, however, which attempts to apply the (presumably coherent) principles of political liberalism as opposed to treating them as objects of study themselves, such criticisms fall beyond the scope of the exercise. Thus, I shall not further address these criticisms explicitly - although they will continue to be explored indirectly, especially in Section III on France, through discussion of other issues.
38. This is not to say that in practice American schools are always pluralist. Because public schools depend on geographically-defined catchment areas which are often highly segregated, many schools exhibit much less diversity than they should or are intended to do. But, as in my description of the English model, I am interested in the theoretical, rather than empirical, implications of American public school provision.
39. Consider Horace Bushnell's Discourse on Common Schools in 1853, for example: 'This great institution, too, of common schools, is not only a part of the state, but is imperiously wanted as such, for the common training of so many classes and conditions of people. There needs to be some place where, in early childhood, they may be brought together and made acquainted with each other; thus to wear away the sense of distance, otherwise certain to become an established animosity of orders; to form friendships; to be exercised together on a common footing of ingenuous rivalry ... Indeed, no child can be said to be well trained, especially no male child, who has not met the people as they are, above him or below, in the seatings, plays and studies of the common school. Without this he can never be a fully qualified citizen, or prepared to act his part wisely as a citizen.' Bushnell is equally forceful a few pages on: 'Indeed, I seriously doubt whether any system of popular government can stand the shock, for any length of time, of that fierce animosity, that is certain to be gendered, where the children are trained up wholly in their classes, and never brought together to feel, understand, appreciate and respect each other, on the common footing of merit and of native talent, in a common school.' (Horace Bushnell, 'Common Schools: A Discourse on the Modifications Demanded by the Roman Catholics', in Rush Welter, ed., American Writings on Popular Education: The Nineteenth Century (New York: Bobbs-Merrill, 1971), pp. 182, 183.)
40. Consider Horace Bushnell's Discourse on Common Schools in 1853, for example: 'This great institution, too, of common schools, is not only a part of the state, but is imperiously wanted as such, for the common training of so many classes and conditions of people. There needs to be some place where, in early childhood, they may be brought together and made acquainted with each other; thus to wear away the sense of distance, otherwise certain to become an established animosity of orders; to form friendships; to be exercised together on a common footing of ingenuous rivalry ... Indeed, no child can be said to be well trained, especially no male child, who has not met the people as they are, above him or below, in the seatings, plays and studies of the common school. Without this he can never be a fully qualified citizen, or prepared to act his part wisely as a citizen.' Bushnell is equally forceful a few pages on: 'Indeed, I seriously doubt whether any system of popular government can stand the shock, for any length of time, of that fierce animosity, that is certain to be gendered, where the children are trained up wholly in their classes, and never brought together to feel, understand, appreciate and respect each other, on the common footing of merit and of native talent, in a common school.' (Horace Bushnell, 'Common Schools: A Discourse on the Modifications Demanded by the Roman Catholics', in Rush Welter, ed., American Writings on Popular Education: The Nineteenth Century (New York: Bobbs-Merrill, 1971), pp. 182, 183.)
41. I say 'nominally' because the appearance of a single curriculum open to all often masks the reality of a number of separate, mutually exclusive - sometimes even mutually hostile - curricula in operation at any one school; for a provocative account of this process of curricular differentiation and accommodation within American secondary schools as a whole, see Arthur G. Powell, Eleanor Farrar and David K. Cohen, The Shopping Mall High School: Winners and Losers in the Educational Marketplace (Boston, Mass.: Houghton Mifflin, 1985).
42. West Virginia State Board of Education v. Barnette 319 U.S. (1943).
43. This structural accommodation of the public school to the union of private demands possibly gives insight, as well, into the absence of a national education policy, a national curriculum or national examinations in the United States. Since, I have argued, the public school under the American model is not a homogeneous entity imposed from above but is instead constructed from 'below' from the multiplicity of individual identities, it makes sense that the public school is governed on a local as opposed to national level.
44. Although the specific terms and characteristic expressions of contemporary multicultural education are relatively new, it should be noted that multicultural education itself has strong historical antecedents. One example of this is the 'hyphenated' characterization of America. As no less a figure than John Dewey declared in 1916, 'Such terms as Irish-American or Hebrew-American or German-American are false terms, because they seem to assume something that is already in existence in America, to which the other factors may be hitched on. The fact is, the genuine American, the typical American, is himself a hyphenated character. It does not mean that he is part American and that some foreign ingredient is in his makeup. He is no American plus Pole or German. But the American is himself Pole German English French Spanish Italian Greek Irish Scandinavian Bohemian Jew - and so on. The point is to see to it that the hyphen connects instead of separates, And this means at least that our public schools shall teach each factor to respect every other, and shall take pains to enlighten us all as to the great past contributions of every strain in our composite make-up.' (John Dewey, Speech to the (American) National Education Association (1916): quoted in Nathan Glazer, 'Multicultural "School Wars" Date to 1840s', Sacramento Bee, 28 November 1993, p. FO1.)
45. Although the specific terms and characteristic expressions of contemporary multicultural education are relatively new, it should be noted that multicultural education itself has strong historical antecedents. One example of this is the 'hyphenated' characterization of America. As no less a figure than John Dewey declared in 1916, 'Such terms as Irish-American or Hebrew-American or German-American are false terms, because they seem to assume something that is already in existence in America, to which the other factors may be hitched on. The fact is, the genuine American, the typical American, is himself a hyphenated character. It does not mean that he is part American and that some foreign ingredient is in his makeup. He is no American plus Pole or German. But the American is himself Pole German English French Spanish Italian Greek Irish Scandinavian Bohemian Jew - and so on. The point is to see to it that the hyphen connects instead of separates, And this means at least that our public schools shall teach each factor to respect every other, and shall take pains to enlighten us all as to the great past contributions of every strain in our composite make-up.' (John Dewey, Speech to the (American) National Education Association (1916): quoted in Nathan Glazer, 'Multicultural "School Wars" Date to 1840s', Sacramento Bee, 28 November 1993, p. FO1.)
46. 'I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the Republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.' (Quoted from memory; Public Law 829, Section 7 of the 77th Congress. Ch. 806 - 2nd Session. House Joint Resolution 359.)
47. Peter Gardner gives the argument a strong twist: 'In reply to the objection that cultivating dispositional tolerance involves an unacceptable predetermination of character, we could point out that all education can be seen in this light; to say we should not attempt to influence children's values is to propose abandoning education.' (Peter Gardner, 'Tolerance and Education', in John Horton, ed., Liberalism, Multiculturalism, and Toleration (London: Macmillan, 1993), pp. 94-5.)
48. François Bayrou, 'Le texte du ministre de l'éducation nationale', Le Monde, 21 September 1994, p. 13. (Translated by Cathie Lloyd, and hereafter referred to as 'Bayrou Circular'.)
49. It may well be objected at this point that my use of 'public school' is misleading, because even though it is true that all state schools are secular, the French government none the less heavily subsidizes the 'private' Roman Catholic school system. In so far as it partially funds a system of separate, homogeneous schools, the French system might be seen as more analogous to the English than to the American system, and consequently as far less neutral or democracy-advancing than I have claimed. The situation is further complicated by the fact that Roman Catholic schools are the only denominational schools that the French state will financially support; Jewish, Muslim and even Lutheran or Methodist schools have no rights to (and will be refused) governmental funding. I admit that these facts do throw off track the model I have been developing, as well as substantially reducing its usefulness in the framework of the article. As a result, I can only remind the reader that the purview of this article is restricted to (officially) public schools, and that these national models should in the end be taken as just that - models. For more on relations between the French government and Roman Catholic schools, see Ozouf, L'École, l'Église et la République.
50. This self-conscious link between the school and the nation is historically grounded in the very founding of public education. As Jules Ferry, the architect of the modern French public school system, declared in a speech to the Chamber of Deputies in 1880: 'Religious neutrality in the school...is, in my eyes and the eyes of the Government, the consequence of the secularization of civil power and of all social institutions.' (Jules Ferry, 'Discours à la Chambre des Députés', 23 December 1880, in Vive La République 1792-1992 (Paris: Archives Nationales, 1992), p. 155 (my translation).)
51. 'Bayrou Circular'.
52. There are many summaries of the initial incident. Some of the most informative include the following: 'Behind the yashmak', The Economist, 28 October 1989, p. 68; 'Muslim pupils will take off scarves in class', Los Angeles Times, 3 December 1989, p. A15; 'Muslims object to school ban on headscarves'. Independent, 15 January 1990, p. 6; Anna Elisabetta Galeotti, 'Citizenship and Equality: The Place for Toleration', Political Theory, 21 (1993), 585-605; and Norma Claire Moruzzi, 'A Problem with Headscarves: Contemporary Complexities of Political and Social Identity', Political Theory, 22 (1994), 653-72. An interesting summary and interpretation of l'affaire to date can be found in 'La saga des foulards', Le Monde, 13 October 1994, p. v.
53. There are many summaries of the initial incident. Some of the most informative include the following: 'Behind the yashmak', The Economist, 28 October 1989, p. 68; 'Muslim pupils will take off scarves in class', Los Angeles Times, 3 December 1989, p. A15; 'Muslims object to school ban on headscarves'. Independent, 15 January 1990, p. 6; Anna Elisabetta Galeotti, 'Citizenship and Equality: The Place for Toleration', Political Theory, 21 (1993), 585-605; and Norma Claire Moruzzi, 'A Problem with Headscarves: Contemporary Complexities of Political and Social Identity', Political Theory, 22 (1994), 653-72. An interesting summary and interpretation of l'affaire to date can be found in 'La saga des foulards', Le Monde, 13 October 1994, p. v.
54. There are many summaries of the initial incident. Some of the most informative include the following: 'Behind the yashmak', The Economist, 28 October 1989, p. 68; 'Muslim pupils will take off scarves in class', Los Angeles Times, 3 December 1989, p. A15; 'Muslims object to school ban on headscarves'. Independent, 15 January 1990, p. 6; Anna Elisabetta Galeotti, 'Citizenship and Equality: The Place for Toleration', Political Theory, 21 (1993), 585-605; and Norma Claire Moruzzi, 'A Problem with Headscarves: Contemporary Complexities of Political and Social Identity', Political Theory, 22 (1994), 653-72. An interesting summary and interpretation of l'affaire to date can be found in 'La saga des foulards', Le Monde, 13 October 1994, p. v.
55. There are many summaries of the initial incident. Some of the most informative include the following: 'Behind the yashmak', The Economist, 28 October 1989, p. 68; 'Muslim pupils will take off scarves in class', Los Angeles Times, 3 December 1989, p. A15; 'Muslims object to school ban on headscarves'. Independent, 15 January 1990, p. 6; Anna Elisabetta Galeotti, 'Citizenship and Equality: The Place for Toleration', Political Theory, 21 (1993), 585-605; and Norma Claire Moruzzi, 'A Problem with Headscarves: Contemporary Complexities of Political and Social Identity', Political Theory, 22 (1994), 653-72. An interesting summary and interpretation of l'affaire to date can be found in 'La saga des foulards', Le Monde, 13 October 1994, p. v.
56. There are many summaries of the initial incident. Some of the most informative include the following: 'Behind the yashmak', The Economist, 28 October 1989, p. 68; 'Muslim pupils will take off scarves in class', Los Angeles Times, 3 December 1989, p. A15; 'Muslims object to school ban on headscarves'. Independent, 15 January 1990, p. 6; Anna Elisabetta Galeotti, 'Citizenship and Equality: The Place for Toleration', Political Theory, 21 (1993), 585-605; and Norma Claire Moruzzi, 'A Problem with Headscarves: Contemporary Complexities of Political and Social Identity', Political Theory, 22 (1994), 653-72. An interesting summary and interpretation of l'affaire to date can be found in 'La saga des foulards', Le Monde, 13 October 1994, p. v.
57. There are many summaries of the initial incident. Some of the most informative include the following: 'Behind the yashmak', The Economist, 28 October 1989, p. 68; 'Muslim pupils will take off scarves in class', Los Angeles Times, 3 December 1989, p. A15; 'Muslims object to school ban on headscarves'. Independent, 15 January 1990, p. 6; Anna Elisabetta Galeotti, 'Citizenship and Equality: The Place for Toleration', Political Theory, 21 (1993), 585-605; and Norma Claire Moruzzi, 'A Problem with Headscarves: Contemporary Complexities of Political and Social Identity', Political Theory, 22 (1994), 653-72. An interesting summary and interpretation of l'affaire to date can be found in 'La saga des foulards', Le Monde, 13 October 1994, p. v.
58. Moruzzi, 'A Problem with Headscarves', p. 68.
59. 'France, reversing course, fights immigrants' refusal to be French', New York Times, 5 December 1993, p. 1.
60. 'France bans Muslim scarf in its schools', New York Times, 11 September 1994, p. 4; 'Chador wear spurs battle in France', Rocky Mountain News, 1 December 1994, Ed.F, p. 48A.
61. 'France bans Muslim scarf in its schools', New York Times, 11 September 1994, p. 4; 'Chador wear spurs battle in France', Rocky Mountain News, 1 December 1994, Ed.F, p. 48A.
62. 'Choice of school is state or Catholic', Independent, 8 September 1993, p. 7.
63. 'Bayrou Circular'.
64. 'Chador wear spurs battle in France', p. 48A. The story has actually become more complicated again since April 1995, when first a court in Lille, and then the Conseil d'État, decided that wearing a headscarf was not 'in itself necessarily ostentatious and proselytizing. It is as yet unclear what effect these judgements will have on schools' enforcement of the 'Bayrou Circular', since the lack of a clear, unified government position leaves schools in an uncertain position. Presumably some headmasters will seize the leeway given by the Conseil d'État decision and permit Muslim girls to wear headscarves in school, while others will continue to expel those girls who insist on covering themselves. Regardless of how teachers and schools respond 'on the ground', however, the principle banning ostentatious and proselytizing symbols still stands unchallenged. See 'Le Conseil d'État tolère sous conditions l'absence scolaire le jour du shabbat', Le Monde, 16-17 April 1995, p. 9; 'Le tribunal de Strasbourg annule l'exclusion de dix-huit jeunes filles voilées', Le Monde, 5 May 1995, p. 12.
65. 'Chador wear spurs battle in France', p. 48A. The story has actually become more complicated again since April 1995, when first a court in Lille, and then the Conseil d'État, decided that wearing a headscarf was not 'in itself necessarily ostentatious and proselytizing. It is as yet unclear what effect these judgements will have on schools' enforcement of the 'Bayrou Circular', since the lack of a clear, unified government position leaves schools in an uncertain position. Presumably some headmasters will seize the leeway given by the Conseil d'État decision and permit Muslim girls to wear headscarves in school, while others will continue to expel those girls who insist on covering themselves. Regardless of how teachers and schools respond 'on the ground', however, the principle banning ostentatious and proselytizing symbols still stands unchallenged. See 'Le Conseil d'État tolère sous conditions l'absence scolaire le jour du shabbat', Le Monde, 16-17 April 1995, p. 9; 'Le tribunal de Strasbourg annule l'exclusion de dix-huit jeunes filles voilées', Le Monde, 5 May 1995, p. 12.
66. 'Within republican thought, the political and cultural communities are made interchangeable; national political membership implies acceptance of French cultural values and principles.' (Miriam Feldblum, 'Paradoxes of Ethnic Politics: The Case of Franco-Maghrebis in France', Ethnic and Racial Studies, 16 (1993), 52-74, p. 55.) See also Rogers Brubacker, Citizenship and Nationhood in France and Germany (Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press, 1992), in which he agrees that: 'By inventing the national citizen and the legally homogeneous national citizenry, the Revolution simultaneously invented the foreigner. Henceforth citizen and foreigner would be correlative, mutually exclusive, exhaustive categories' (p. 46).
67. 'Within republican thought, the political and cultural communities are made interchangeable; national political membership implies acceptance of French cultural values and principles.' (Miriam Feldblum, 'Paradoxes of Ethnic Politics: The Case of Franco-Maghrebis in France', Ethnic and Racial Studies, 16 (1993), 52-74, p. 55.) See also Rogers Brubacker, Citizenship and Nationhood in France and Germany (Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press, 1992), in which he agrees that: 'By inventing the national citizen and the legally homogeneous national citizenry, the Revolution simultaneously invented the foreigner. Henceforth citizen and foreigner would be correlative, mutually exclusive, exhaustive categories' (p. 46).
68. Quoted in Moruzzi, 'A Problem with Headscarves', p. 65.
69. 'France bans Muslim scarf in its schools', p. 4.
70. Pierre Lellouche, quoted in 'France, reversing course, fights immigrants' refusal to be French', p. 1.
71. See 'La saga des foulards', p. v.
72. See Laurent Joffrin's interview with Elisabeth Badinter, Le Nouvel Observateur, 9-15 November 1989, pp. 70-1.
73. Moruzzi, 'A Problem with Headscarves', p. 664.
74. This conclusion rings especially true since the Conseil d'État's decision on 14 April 1995 to permit Jewish students to miss Saturday classes, under certain conditions, in order to observe the Sabbath. So long as it neither impedes the students' studies nor interferes with the life and public order of the school, headmasters may, at their own discretion, release observant Jewish students from Saturday classes. Although the Conseil d'État's decision was accompanied by a companion judgement that Muslim headscarves are not necessarily 'in themselves' ostentatious, it none the less raises the question of whether it is really the principle of la laïcité that remains at work in French education, or if it is more truthfully (and condemnably) anti-Muslim sentiment and fear that drives French public schooling. As one 14 year-old Jewish student comments in this regard, 'Of course I am in favour of permitting [Jewish students to take Saturdays off] when possible. But it is hard to swallow allowing Jews to skip Saturdays when Muslim girls are forbidden to wear the foulard.' (' "Dieu pardonne, l'examen ne pardonne pas" ', Le Monde, 16-17 April 1995, p. 9 (my translation).) See also 'Le Conseil d'État autorise sous conditions l'absence scolaire le jour du shabbat', Le Monde, 16-17 April 1995, pp. 1 and 9.
75. This conclusion rings especially true since the Conseil d'État's decision on 14 April 1995 to permit Jewish students to miss Saturday classes, under certain conditions, in order to observe the Sabbath. So long as it neither impedes the students' studies nor interferes with the life and public order of the school, headmasters may, at their own discretion, release observant Jewish students from Saturday classes. Although the Conseil d'État's decision was accompanied by a companion judgement that Muslim headscarves are not necessarily 'in themselves' ostentatious, it none the less raises the question of whether it is really the principle of la laïcité that remains at work in French education, or if it is more truthfully (and condemnably) anti-Muslim sentiment and fear that drives French public schooling. As one 14 year-old Jewish student comments in this regard, 'Of course I am in favour of permitting [Jewish students to take Saturdays off] when possible. But it is hard to swallow allowing Jews to skip Saturdays when Muslim girls are forbidden to wear the foulard.' (' "Dieu pardonne, l'examen ne pardonne pas" ', Le Monde, 16-17 April 1995, p. 9 (my translation).) See also 'Le Conseil d'État autorise sous conditions l'absence scolaire le jour du shabbat', Le Monde, 16-17 April 1995, pp. 1 and 9.
76. Weber, Peasants into Frenchmen.
77. James S. Coleman, Equality and Achievement in Education (London: Westview Press, 1990), p. 243.