Education: Between Social Entitlement and the Discourse of Rights

Controversies concerning the nature of public education and the legitimate forms of provision of public education are frequently rooted in diverse and often contradictory definitions of what education is or ought to be: public good, private good, positional good, social service, human right, children’s right, or citizenship right. These terms are neither synonymous nor neutral, technical definitions. They are embedded in diverse intellectual traditions concerning the welfare state, democracy, and markets.

The measure of the worth of society is how it treats its weakest and most vulnerable citizens (Sizer, 2004).