Editing Philosophy of education (section)

=== Power ===
The problem of [[Power (social and political)|power]] is another issue in the philosophy of education. Of specific interest on this topic is that the modern states compel children to attend school, so-called [[compulsory education]].<ref name="BritannicaPhilosophyOfEducation"/><ref name="Moss2012">{{cite book |last1=Moss |first1=Peter |title=Early Childhood and Compulsory Education: Reconceptualising the relationship |date=27 November 2012 |publisher=Routledge |isbn=978-1-136-16933-5 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=-kYg1Uyxm1UC |language=en |chapter=1. The relationshipt between early childhood and compulsory education |access-date=31 May 2024 |archive-date=2 November 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231102183412/https://books.google.com/books?id=-kYg1Uyxm1UC |url-status=live }}</ref> The children and their parents usually have few to no ways of opting out or changing the established curriculum. An important question in this respect is why or whether modern states are justified to use this form of power.<ref name="BritannicaPhilosophyOfEducation"/><ref name="Moss2012"/> For example, various liberationist movements belonging to the fields of [[deschooling]] and [[unschooling]] reject this power and argue that the children's welfare is best served in the absence of compulsory schooling in general. This is sometimes based on the idea that the best form of learning does not happen while studying but instead occurs as a side-effect while doing something else.<ref name="RoutledgeEducation"/><ref>{{cite book |last1=Dickerson |first1=Adam |title=John Holt: The Philosophy of Unschooling |date=17 May 2019 |publisher=Springer |isbn=978-3-030-18726-2 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=FQiZDwAAQBAJ |language=en |chapter=1. Only the Experts Shall Speak or Be Heard}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last1=Griffith |first1=Mary |title=The Unschooling Handbook: How to Use the Whole World As Your Child's Classroom |date=5 May 2010 |publisher=Crown |isbn=978-0-307-48970-8 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=qVFmz38KA8cC |language=en |chapter=Introduction |access-date=31 May 2024 |archive-date=2 November 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231102183412/https://books.google.com/books?id=qVFmz38KA8cC |url-status=live }}</ref> This position is often rejected by pointing out that it is based on overly optimistic presuppositions about the children's natural and unguided development of [[rationality]].<ref name="RoutledgeEducation"/> While some objections focus on compulsory education in general, a less radical and more common criticism concerns specific compulsory topics in the curriculum, for example, in relation to sexuality or religion. Another contemporary debate in the United States concerns the practice of standardized testing: it has been argued that this discriminates against certain racial, cultural, or religious minorities since the standardized test may implicitly assume various presuppositions not shared by these minorities.<ref name="BritannicaPhilosophyOfEducation"/><ref name="Beuchert"/><ref name="Knoester2017"/> Other issues in relation to power concern the authority and responsibility teachers have towards their students.<ref name="BritannicaPhilosophyOfEducation"/>

[[Postmodernism|Postmodern]] theorists often see established educational practices as instruments of power used by elites in society to further their own interests.<ref name="BritannicaPhilosophyOfEducation"/><ref name="StanfordPhilosophyOfEducation"/> Important aspects in this regard are the unequal power relation between the state and its institutions in contrast to the individual as well as the control that can thus be employed due to the close connection between [[Power-knowledge|power and knowledge]], specifically the knowledge passed on through education.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Leonard |first1=Peter |title=KNOWLEDGE/POWER AND POSTMODERNISM: Implications for the Practice of a Critical Social Work Education |journal=Canadian Social Work Review / Revue canadienne de service social |date=1994 |volume=11 |issue=1 |pages=11–26 |jstor=41669550 |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/41669550 |issn=0820-909X |access-date=2024-05-31 |archive-date=2023-11-02 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231102183417/https://www.jstor.org/stable/41669550 |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |last1=RØMER |first1=THOMAS AASTRUP |title=Postmodern Education and the Concept of Power |journal=Educational Philosophy and Theory |date=January 2011 |volume=43 |issue=7 |pages=755–772 |doi=10.1111/j.1469-5812.2009.00566.x |s2cid=219541268 |url=https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1111/j.1469-5812.2009.00566.x |issn=0013-1857 |access-date=2024-05-31 |archive-date=2023-11-02 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231102183412/https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1111/j.1469-5812.2009.00566.x |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last1=Burbules |first1=Nicholas C. |title=The Oxford Handbook of Philosophy of Education |date=30 October 2009 |url=https://www.oxfordhandbooks.com/view/10.1093/oxfordhb/9780195312881.001.0001/oxfordhb-9780195312881-e-029?rskey=RMXvXj&result=4&q=action |language=en |chapter=Postmodernism and Education |access-date=31 May 2024 |archive-date=31 May 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240531092737/https://academic.oup.com/edited-volume/28239/chapter-abstract/213341678?redirectedFrom=fulltext |url-status=live }}</ref>