Educating Citizens: International Perspectives on Civic Values and
School Choice. Edited by Patrick J. Wolf and Stephen Macedo, with
David J. Ferrero and Charles Venegoni. Washington, DC: Brookings
Institution Press, 2004. 397p. $59.95 cloth, $24.95 paper.
Not to be confused with the Carnegie Foundation book carrying the same
title, Educating Citizens is a very good resource for those who
want to learn about how Western European societies have considered the
issue of school choice. The editors have collected a series of reports on
how private, generally religious, schooling has operated in the most
developed countries of Europe, and they conclude that a variety of
educational choices will benefit primary and secondary schooling in the
United States. However, such choices must be well regulated to ensure the
development of civic values among youth here. They argue for “a
certain sort of publicly funded pluralism in education; pluralism
justified by value differences but contained by significant regulation and
tamed by systems that ensure accountability” (p. 4).