The Right to Higher Education: A Political Theory [Hardcover]

This book argues that all citizens have the right to higher education. Education should not be allocated only to some, but to all those who choose to take it up. Using concepts and ideas from liberal political philosophy, Christopher Martin shows that access to educational goods plays a key role in helping mature citizens realize self-determined goals. Martin examines the implication of this justification of the right to higher education for questions of educational justice, political authority, distributive justice, civic education, and personal autonomy.Many assume that a person's right to education terminates with high school, and that higher education is a luxury addition. The conversation about education changes in palpable ways once we focus on higher education rather than the education we ordinarily think that citizens are due when they are children and teenagers. We see more talk about competition for university places, standardized testing, and elite admissions. We parse out the differences between the benefits of education for the individual and the burdens of public financial support for such an education. The move from educational provision for children to educational provision for adults marks a troubling transformation in this public conversation: from one about how it can improve the lives of all individuals, to one preoccupied with fairness, competition, merit, personal responsibility, and the sharing of benefits and burdens. Problems of status, stratification, and selectivity capture as much, if not more, of our attention than the question of what higher education institutions should aim to achieve. But why should it be so different, when it is no less essential? Obtaining a higher education degree can change the course of a person's life, providing them with vast opportunities that they could not access otherwise--in fact for many it is a prerequisite for fulfilling their personal and professional goals, or even being able to just make a living. Yel3}