Coons, John E. The Case for Parental Choice: God, Family, and Educational Liberty. University of Notre Dame Press, 2023.
The Case for Parental Choice is a collection of John Coons’ essays written over 42 years. Coons crafts closely reasoned arguments built upon his extensive legal knowledge, literary acumen, and penetrating philosophical inquiry. The editors of the collection, Nicole Garnett, Richard Garnett, and Ernest Morrell, effectively organize the essays into three sections, aiding the reader in tracing the logical progression of Coons’ thought. Coons shines in establishing the legal, moral, and philosophical standing for parent-directed school choice. He wields searing criticism of the economically prejudiced education systems in the United States to expose the ethical palsy at its core. The arguments have the power to prompt rational readers to indignation. The weakest portions of his argument extend from an unorthodox theological framework which he calls both “Catholic” and “Christian” in numerous places. It is hard to imagine any sizable portion of Christendom: Catholic, Orthodox, or Protestant, agreeing to his definitions or premises in these sections. The end result is an important substantiation of parent-directed school choice in section one, a second section on education and community that has little to contribute to achieving school choice, and a third section that tries to blend the first two sections with mottled results.
The first section of the book on “Religion, Liberty, and Education” is the most persuasive, articulating Coons’ deep understanding of United States law and its roots in natural law. Coons connects the American ideal of liberty with an overarching educational goal of autonomy and then examines how best to generate this end in students. He examines how liberty applies to both parents and students with special emphasis on the inherent and natural vulnerability of childhood. Children will always fall under the authority of others, so educational systems determine who will have authority over children during a huge portion of their time. Coons makes a powerful case that parents are the best possible choice to wield this authority, based on their special knowledge of the child, that their interests and the interests for the child’s eventual autonomy align, and the parents’ access to professional help when needed. Strangers, even educational experts, cannot apply such insight. Coons’ eviscerates the idea that public schools are “public”. Geographic and socioeconomic realities severely limit access to better schools. Middle-income and lower-income families are forced to accept whichever school is nearby. Wealthy families can choose private schools or move to the district of better performing “public” schools. These options are not available to everyone. Ultimately, Coons articulates how liberty is systematically suppressed for poorer families and their children. All segments of government, including the judiciary, are complicit in the unjust and unconstitutional reality.
Coons offers a plan for school choice that would make private and public school choice available to rich and poor alike. His paradigm works with some of the limitations inherent in the educational system and funds choice at a lower rate than the established public schools, potentially increasing the likelihood of adoption while still making the economic schematic possible. It does, in this concession, fall short of a full standard for full equitable school choice.
In the second part of the volume, Coons considers education’s connection with community. He provides definitions for dignity, equality, tolerance, and community as starting points. These definitions fail to comply with Aristotelian standards for “statements of essence.” There is little teleological clarity for these words or concepts, undermining the argument he builds upon them. Coons theological framework is even more problematic. He adopts a universalist leaning paradigm for soteriology and sanctification that is rooted in the good intentions of individuals. He builds his case upon a human potential for “moral self-perfection” that he argues is available for every person regardless of whether they make correct moral judgments or not. Their desire to search for the good is the only work necessary to achieve this purified state. One advance, near the end of the section, is that Coons turns from his initial definition of tolerance to a more essential definition calling it a “sufferance of real evil”. This definition better fits the liberty offered mutually to all parents through school choice. It acknowledges the acceptance of the poor choices of some so that the noble choices of others remain protected. In the end, the established connection Coons tries to establish between community and education is of little importance to the desired end of parent-directed school choice.
In the third section of the book, Coons’ essays work to integrate the first two sections. The strength of these essays proceeds largely from the content of the first part of the book and is somewhat compromised by the arguments of the second portion. He does return powerfully to the “public school masquerade of a common curriculum”. The United States public education system subverts parental authority over the education of their children to give it to a chance collection of uncoordinated strangers. Who is actually deciding on the content provided to parents? The school district? The administrators? The textbook publishers? The teacher? In reality, no one knows. Why not give the decision to parents?
General readers will likely find Coons’ content and style somewhat inaccessible, especially in the first part of the book. This is unfortunate because the quality of his argument calls for a populist appeal. Indeed, informing a majority of citizens of the troubling tyranny in educational funding would push the effort further along the path to a solution. Coons provides empowering fodder for the parent-directed school choice movement. As such, other proponents should learn from Coons’ tremendous insight and push his hopes forward in fresh and accessible new ways.
Keith Castello is the Executive Director of Kyrie Christian Education Services, which advocates for religious liberty through school choice. He has 18 years of experience as a Head of School and is currently serving in this capacity at Dripping Springs Christian Academy. Keith earned his Bachelor's degree in English Literature from the University of North Texas, studied Theology at Dallas Theological Seminary, and later obtained a Master's degree in Humanities from the University of Dallas. He also studied Educational Leadership at Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary and will soon complete a Ph.D. in the same from Liberty University.
Keith lives in Hurst, Texas with his wife, Alicia, and their two sons. Both boys have attended a classical Christian school since the age of 3.