![Not creating complex educational resources:
the case of Title One
“in a nation whose schools were radically
decentralized, and which lacked a common
infrastructure, any effort to improve instruction would
have to take on the fundamental weaknesses of the US
System…. The political governance arrangements and
traditions of U.S. public education inhibited even
discussion of such an infrastructure…. The absence of
such instruments [common
standards, curricula, assessments, and data systems
and professional development keyed to them] was, of
course, not an oversight, but a central feature of the
design of public education.”
– Cohen and Moffitt, The Ordeal of Equality
(Harvard, 2009)](https://image.slidesharecdn.com/creatingcapabilitiesbrighousereal-100504102530-phpapp01/85/Brighouse-16-320.jpg)
![Glenn, clement e[1]. fundamental needs of the whole child](https://cdn.slidesharecdn.com/ss_thumbnails/glennclemente1-170713160911-thumbnail.jpg?width=560&fit=bounds)
![Glenn, clement e[1]. fundamental needs of the whole child](https://cdn.slidesharecdn.com/ss_thumbnails/glennclemente1-fundamentalneedsofthewholechild-100916174747-phpapp01-thumbnail.jpg?width=560&fit=bounds)
Brighouse
- 1. Creating Capabilities – Which Capabilities and for Whom Harry Brighouse University of Wisconsin, Madison
- 2. How to decide which capabilities? Recognize human diversity Recognize cultural and social diversity
- 3. How do people flourish? Needs vary with external environment Needs vary with non-plastic traits
- 4. Personal autonomy/self-governance Cannot pick out a child’s tendencies at birth Imperfect match of children’s needs to parents’ values/practices We need the internal resources and external conditions needed for making and acting on good judgments about what will tend to our own flourishing (matching our values and practices to our personality)
- 5. But… We need to be attached to a culture and community, for self-knowledge, for personal connection, and for meaning (Community) Different societies balance community and autonomy differently There may be a precise correct equilibrium, but we don’t know it What individuals need is sensitive to the balance between autonomy and community in their society
- 6. Tendency for policy to focus on… A subset of capabilities everybody needs: those about the content of which there is little live public disagreement
- 7. Education in the contemporary US... Cognitive (math and reading) Physical ------------------ Emotional Moral/Social Spiritual
- 8. A (rough) guide to capabilities in education The self We value ourselves as unique human beings capable of spiritual, moral, intellectual and physical growth and development. Relationships We value others for themselves, not only for what they have or what they can do for us. We value relationships as fundamental to the development and fulfillment of ourselves and others, and to the good of the community. Society We value truth, freedom, justice, human rights, the rule of law and collective effort for the common good. In particular, we value families as sources of love and support for all their members, and as the basis of a society in which people care for others. The environment We value the environment, both natural and shaped by humanity, as the basis of life and a source of wonder and inspiration. From UK National Curriculum Statement of Values
- 9. Distributive Rules EQUAL CAPABILITIES: Each person’s capabilities should be equally well developed EQUAL GOVERNMENT ATTENTION The development of each person’s capabilities should receive equal attention from public institutions ADEQUACY Everyone should reach some threshold level of capability development. Inequalities above this level are fine, or governed by some other rule
- 10. More distributive rules MAXIMIN: Social inequalities are justified when they work to the benefit of the capability development of those whose capabilities are least developed PRIORITY Developing the capabilities of those who capabilities are less developed is always (somewhat) more urgent than developing those whose capabilities are more developed
- 11. Whose capabilities here and now? Focus on less and least advantaged Realistic assessment of the conditions facing them as adults Develop capabilities needed to flourish in those conditions
- 12. Two purposes of moral theory Guide evaluation of status quo Guiding action (and policy)
- 13. Policy and practice come in sectors… Education Health care and public health The economy (?) Family policy Housing The environment etc…..
- 14. Sector-specific principles of distribution? Rough heuristics Depends on interaction with other sectors
- 15. Creating sector-specific complex resources: the case of education Preparing teachers and principals Common standards Common assessments Detailed data on achievement Common language for discussing standards, assessments and achievement Professional development oriented to learning which instructional strategies are successful with which children and learning those strategies
- 16. Not creating complex educational resources: the case of Title One “in a nation whose schools were radically decentralized, and which lacked a common infrastructure, any effort to improve instruction would have to take on the fundamental weaknesses of the US System…. The political governance arrangements and traditions of U.S. public education inhibited even discussion of such an infrastructure…. The absence of such instruments [common standards, curricula, assessments, and data systems and professional development keyed to them] was, of course, not an oversight, but a central feature of the design of public education.” – Cohen and Moffitt, The Ordeal of Equality (Harvard, 2009)
- 17. Summary Which capabilities?: sensitive to variation in what it takes to flourish across and within societies How distributed?: to benefit the least advantaged (lowest capability development) Operationalizing for policy purposes requires attention to how sectors interact