From Laissez-Faire to Vouchers
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FROM LAISSEZ-FAIRE TO VOUCHERS: AN INTELLECTUAL HISTORY OF MARKET LIBERTARIAN THOUGHT ON EDUCATION IN TWENTIETH-CENTURY AMERICA by Kevin Currie-Knight A dissertation submitted to the Faculty of the University of Delaware in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Education Spring 2014 © 2014 Kevin Currie-Knight All Rights Reserved UMI Number: 3631170 All rights reserved INFORMATION TO ALL USERS The quality of this reproduction is dependent upon the quality of the copy submitted. In the unlikely event that the author did not send a complete manuscript and there are missing pages, these will be noted. Also, if material had to be removed, a note will indicate the deletion. UMI 3631170 Published by ProQuest LLC (2014). Copyright in the Dissertation held by the Author. Microform Edition © ProQuest LLC. All rights reserved. This work is protected against unauthorized copying under Title 17, United States Code ProQuest LLC. 789 East Eisenhower Parkway P.O. Box 1346 Ann Arbor, MI 48106 - 1346 FROM LAISSEZ-FAIRE TO VOUCHERS: AN INTELLECTUAL HISTORY OF MARKET LIBERTARIAN THOUGHT ON EDUCATION IN TWENTIETH-CENTURY AMERICA by Kevin Currie-Knight Approved: ____________________________________________________________ Ralph P. Ferretti, Ph.D. Director of the School of Education Approved: ____________________________________________________________ Lynn Okagaki, Ph.D. Dean of the College of Education and Human Development Approved: ____________________________________________________________ James G. Richards, Ph.D. Vice Provost for Graduate and Professional Education I certify that I have read this dissertation and that in my opinion it meets the academic and professional standard required by the University as a dissertation for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy. Signed: ________________________________________________________ Robert Hampel, Ph.D. Professor in charge of dissertation I certify that I have read this dissertation and that in my opinion it meets the academic and professional standard required by the University as a dissertation for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy. Signed: _________________________________________________________ Jan Blits, Ph.D. Member of dissertation committee I certify that I have read this dissertation and that in my opinion it meets the academic and professional standard required by the University as a dissertation for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy. Signed: ________________________________________________________ Eugene Matusov, Ph.D. Member of dissertation committee I certify that I have read this dissertation and that in my opinion it meets the academic and professional standard required by the University as a dissertation for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy. Signed: ________________________________________________________ Matt Zwolinski, Ph.D. Member of dissertation committee ACKNOWLEDGMENTS There are many people I’d like to thank for their help and support during the years it took me to write this dissertation. First, I want to thank all of my fellow graduate students and the wonderful faculty in University of Delaware’s School of Education for their hand in creating such a supportive environment. I single out professors Mandy Jansen and David Blacker for their valuable guidance during my first few years of PhD study. Thanks also to my dissertation committee, and particularly Matt Zwolinski (for reading drafts despite an impossibly busy schedule) and Bob Hampel (for being such a good mentor and advisor). Also at UD, I’d like to thank the folks at the Center for Teaching and Learning and especially Gabriele Bauer for her mentorship and support. The outstanding folks at the Institute for Humane Studies have also assisted me in various ways. Particularly Nigel Ashford, Phil Magness, and Bill Glod have provided useful intellectual and professional support. I would also like to thank William Kline and the folks at the University of Illinois, Springfield, who offered me a predoctoral fellowship, allowing me to finish my dissertation while teaching classes in their Liberal Studies department. (Several conversations at UIS with Geoffrey Lea helped me craft my last two chapters.) Last but not at all least, I am lucky to have such a supportive family. My parents, Rob and Lynne Currie, have always supported me despite more than my share of professional twists and turns. And I could not have done any of this without my wife and best friend, Tricia, who gave me the encouragement I needed to undertake PhD study in the first place. Thank you all! iv TABLE OF CONTENTS ABSTRACT ………………………………………………………………………….… vi INTRODUCTION ………………………………………………………………………. 1 Some Notes on Terminology ………………………………………………….... 14 Why This History? ……………………………………………………………... 16 Setting the Historical Stage ……………………………………………………... 22 Chapter 1 BETWEEN HERBERT SPENCER AND MATTHEW ARNOLD: WHY ALBERT JAY NOCK WAS SKEPTICAL OF PRIVATE ENTERPRISE SOLUTIONS FOR PUBLIC EDUCATION ………………….. 35 Nock the Cultural Conservative: The Limits of Private Enterprise …………….. 41 Nock and the Dilemma of Private Enterprise Administration of Education …… 46 Nock, the Economic Libertarian and Educational Conservative ……………….. 57 2 “A SCHOOL ON EVERY CORNER”: FRANK CHODOROV, CONSUMER SOVEREIGNTY, AND MARKETS IN EDUCATION ………………………………………………………………….. 61 Chodorov Departs from Nock: Markets and Pluralism in Education …………... 66 Chodorov and the Economic Idea of Consumer Sovereignty in Markets …….... 74 3 AN EDUCATION FOR GALT’S GULCH: AYN RAND AND PRIVATE EDUCATION FOR A FREE AND RATIONAL SOCIETY ...…...................................................................................................... 84 Education for Individualism: Galt’s Gulch and the Comprachinos …………….. 85 Rand’s Philosophy of Education and Isabel Paterson’s Influence ………………89 Rand’s Natural Rights Argument Against State Provision of Education ………. 98 Rand’s Surprising Support for Tax Credits in Education ……………………... 101 v 4 BEYOND LEFT AND RIGHT: MURRAY ROTHBARD, THE NEW LEFT, AND ARGUMENTS FOR EDUCATIONAL PRIVATIZATION …......................................................................................... 108 Murray Rothbard and Children’s Liberation ………………………………….. 111 Rothbard (and Others) Argue Against Compulsory State Education …………. 118 Murray Rothbard and the New Left? ………………………………………….. 128 5 PUBLIC FINANCING, NOT ADMINISTRATION, OF SCHOOLING: MILTON (AND ROSE) FRIEDMAN AND EDUCATIONAL VOUCHERS …………………………………………….... 136 Milton Friedman and the Role of Government in Education …………………. 140 The Intellectual Origins of Vouchers ………………………………………….. 148 The Friedmans’ Later Voucher Proposal and the Influence of E. G. West …… 156 Milton Friedman and Public Choice Economics ……………………………… 167 6 EDUCATION WITHOUT ROMANCE: MYRON LIEBERMAN, PUBLIC CHOICE ECONOMICS, AND EDUCATION …………………….. 176 Myron Lieberman and Public Choice Economics …………………………….. 181 Lieberman’s Autopsy of Public Schools: A Problem of Incentives …………... 189 A Voucher System with Emphasis on For-Profit Schools …………………….. 194 Conclusion …………………………………………………………………….. 208 CONCLUSION ……………………………………………………………………….. 214 BIBLIOGRAPHY …………………………………………………………………….. 230 vi ABSTRACT This is a history of pro-market arguments about American education—the idea that we should reject the current public education system and replace it with a market in educational services that allows producers to offer competing schooling options and consumers to choose those that work best for them. I want to explore how and why libertarian arguments regarding education have changed over the twentieth century. The research questions I will answer are: (1) What did key twentieth-century market libertarians write about education in a free society? (2) How might the various defenses and visions of markets in education I explore reflect the different influences on the intellectual advocating them? (3) How did market libertarian criticisms of state education, justifications for educational markets, and visions of what educational markets should look like compare with each other, and how did they change over time? Using the writings and biographies of each prominent market libertarian intellectual, as well as works written by their contemporaries and predecessors, I will focus on how each crafted his or her argument for markets in education and how each imagined the proper role (if any) for governments and private actors in markets in schooling, as well as explain how their arguments might have been influenced by others. vi The libertarian figures examined in this dissertation are diverse, as are their arguments on education. Albert Jay Nock (1870–1945) and Frank Chodorov (1887–1966) used similar arguments to justify laissez-faire capitalism, but came to different conclusions on the potential of private enterprise to replace public education; Nock feared that businesses would cater to consumers’ preference for the cheap and easy, where Chodorov believed parental decisions would be preferable to those of the state. Ayn Rand (1905–1982) and Murray Rothbard (1926–1995) had similar arguments that public education would prove to be an instrument of state indoctrination and that proper instruction for a free society must be private; Rand believed, for seemingly practical reasons, that the state’s role should be limited to providing tax credits for purchase of educational services, while Rothbard believed there must be a complete separation between state and school. Lastly, Milton Friedman (1912–2006) and Myron Lieberman (1919–2013)