Study Notes on Labaree's "Public Goods, Private Goods" Article

Core Thesis and Conflict

• "The problem with American education is not that we do not know how to make schools better but that we are fighting among ourselves about what the goals of education should be." (p. $40$)

• "I argue that the history of American education is the history of a struggle between three competing goals for the school: democratic equality, social efficiency, and social mobility." (p. $42$)

• "In this struggle, the problem is not a lack of consensus on the goals of education; the problem is that we have too much consensus on too many conflicting goals." (p. $41$)

Democratic Equality (The Citizen Approach)

• "From the perspective of democratic equality, a democratic society cannot happen without a democratic education… Schools should be designed to prepare all citizens for a life of active and equal participation in the democratic process." (p. $42$)

• "The state has a compelling interest in ensuring that all citizens receive a common education that provides them with the knowledge and values necessary for democratic citizenship." (p. $45$)

Social Efficiency (The Worker Approach)

• "From the perspective of social efficiency, our schools should be designed to prepare workers to fill the various slots in the labor market. The educational system is seen as a taxpayer-funded mechanism for investing in human capital." (p. $42$)

• "In this view, the school serves as a mechanism for sorting and training the workforce in a manner that will maximize the productivity of the economy." (p. $50$)

Social Mobility (The Consumer Approach)

• "From the perspective of social mobility, education is a private good that individuals consume in order to get ahead in the competition for status… the goal of education is to provide individual students with a competitive advantage." (p. $42$)

• "The driving force behind the goal of social mobility is the consumer, for whom education is a commodity whose value lies in its power to help the individual outdistance the competition." (p. $53$)

The Impact of Credentialism

• "The diploma becomes more important than the learning it is supposed to signify; the exchange value of education takes precedence over its use value." (p. $54$)

• "The result is a system that is long on credentials and short on learning, in which the pursuit of degrees replaces the pursuit of knowledge." (p. $70$)

• "The dominance of the social mobility goal turns the educational system into a market, in which education is consumed for private gain rather than for the public interest." (p. $76$)