On the purpose of schooling: Inviting in, or locking out?

This chapter focuses on assumptions and definitions about ability, and how those assumptions intersect with other variables (such as race, class, or gender) to create categories of marginalization. It argues that the purpose of education should be that of ensuring access for all students, and removing barriers to choice-making. There will always be multiple and competing interests engaged in the endeavor of educating world's children, the education of a population impacts the economic and political structures in a society, and informs national identity. Education systems everywhere espouse a purpose of schooling as either egalitarian or humanistic, while enacting policies and curriculum that meet the economic and civic concerns of the nation. The chapter discusses a potential solution: social justice education. Social justice includes a vision of society that is equitable and all members are physically and psychologically safe and secure. Social justice education is emerging, building on fields of study including democratic schooling, multicultural education, and antiracist education among others.