Educational Authority Over Children: Conflicts between parents and the state

Rob Reich

My project undertakes a philosophical examination of how the education of children is and should be governed in contexts of tension or conflict between parental and state authority over them. I seek to forward a fresh view about the proper balance of authority over children, how parental-state conflicts should be resolved, and what role the independent voice of the child should play in any resolution. The centerpiece of my approach is my effort to situate the debate about educational authority within a philosophical discussion of authority over children generally. Children, the youngest citizens of the state, are dependent human beings who must rely on others for their social, emotional, physical, spiritual, and intellectual needs, interests, and growth. In most contexts, parents are considered to be the appropriate agents for safeguarding and promoting these needs and interests. In certain circumstances, however, the state is empowered to intervene on behalf of the child against the authority of the parents. The most uncontroversial case for state action arises when parents are plainly abusive or negligent. The state will act, for example, to remove a child from a home where parents do not feed or sexually assault their child. Yet in other contexts, public agents acting on behalf of the state may seek to intervene in the lives of children against the wishes of parents who are not obviously incompetent. The state may seek to promote its interest in the civic development of children, or it may act on behalf of its understanding of the child’s own interests, even when these actions clash with parental desires. The actions of the state in these circumstances are highly controversial. Should the state be able to contest or override the child-rearing preferences of parents? How should conflicts between parental and state authority be resolved? What is the role of the independent voice of the child in such conflicts? These are the central questions of my project.

About Rob Reich

Rob Reich is Assistant Professor of Political Science, Ethics in Society, and, by courtesy, Education, at Stanford University. His main interests are in political philosophy, and his current work focuses on the moral status of children in liberal democracies. He is the author of Bridging Liberalism and Multiculturalism in American Education (University of Chicago Press, 2002), a central part of which focuses on parental rights over the education of their children, including questions about voucher programs, religious schools, and homeschooling. Reich received the 2000 Associated Students of Stanford University Distinguished Teaching Award, and the 2001 Walter J. Gores Award, Stanford's highest honor for teaching. He is the founder and co-director of the Stanford Summer Philosophy Discovery Institute, a three-week residential program for high school students. He serves currently as senior research fellow for the Aspen Institute’s Program on Education in a Changing Society. Before attending graduate school, Rob was a sixth grade teacher, through the Teach For America program, at Rusk Elementary School in Houston, Texas.