Public education in the United States has seen many changes over the years. Some of those changes came in response to what are now recognized as clear problems with religious liberty
in the common education system adopted in the mid 1800's. This dissertation reviews past and current ideas related to religious liberty and the larger issue of liberty of conscience
(Nussbaum, 2008) in education and pursues a research question by considering past and current issues. Does a system of general, mass education necessarily infringe upon students' liberty of
conscience? This question is pursued following a Deweyan framework of philosophy of education wherein a "felt difficulty" is identified, information is gathered to apply to the difficulty,
and possible solutions to problems identified (Dewey, 1938). I begin with a discussion of liberty of conscience and a discussion of some of the conflicts included in a system of mass
education. This establishes the structure of the difficulty, or problem. The history of the public education system in the United States is reviewed with a focus on the common education
system adapted in the 1830's along with relevant issues related to religious intolerance. Improvements in the respect for religious diversity applied to that system over time and improvements
proposed but not yet fully implemented are discussed. Ideas from religious intolerance literature is introduced to add insight and expose the larger issue of liberty of conscience including
how those ideas can be applied to educational systems. The process of religious intolerance (Corrigan & Neal, 2010) is developed into an architecture of religious intolerance that can
assist with identifying this type of intolerance in educational settings. I argue that while many of the strongest issues of religious intolerance in public education have been resolved, many
problems still remain. I will also argue that the intolerance is not limited to religious intolerance but includes intolerance for ideas stemming from many different epistemic foundations.
This will lead to a consideration of an idea I have labeled as epistemic intolerance. These arguments support an answer to the research question, which is that a system of general, mass
education does necessarily infringe on students' liberty of conscience if one or more cultural majorities centrally control that system of education. / A Dissertation submitted to the Department of Educational Leadership and Policy Studies in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of
Philosophy. / Fall Semester, 2014. / September 17, 2014. / Choice, Conscience, Education, Liberty, Religious, School / Includes bibliographical references. / Jeffrey Ayala Milligan, Professor Directing Dissertation; Thomas Anderson, University Representative; Robert A. Schwartz, Committee Member; Patrice Iatarola,
Committee Member.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:fsu.edu/oai:fsu.digital.flvc.org:fsu_252791 |
| Contributors | Adams, Steven Burke (authoraut), Milligan, Jeffrey Ayala (professor directing dissertation), Anderson, Thomas (university representative), Schwartz, Robert A. (committee member), Iatarola, Patrice (committee member), Florida State University (degree granting institution), College of Education (degree granting college), Department of Educational Leadership and Policy Studies (degree granting department) |
| Publisher | Florida State University, Florida State University |
| Source Sets | Florida State University |
| Language | English, English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Text, text |
| Format | 1 online resource (207 pages), computer, application/pdf |
| Rights | This Item is protected by copyright and/or related rights. You are free to use this Item in any way that is permitted by the copyright and related rights legislation that applies to your use. For other uses you need to obtain permission from the rights-holder(s). The copyright in theses and dissertations completed at Florida State University is held by the students who author them. |
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