Education policy debates are awash in books. Memoirs, polemics, volumes of policy wonkery — some of which we highlight on this blog.
In the coming months, we’re going to devote more space to the ones we feel are required reading, or at least come close.
We hope to look beyond the obvious. We’re interested in books that may have been published decades before their time, and that, when dusted off, contain ideas that are finally ripe. We’re interested in books from fields like psychology, philosophy, and political science that aren’t explicitly about education, but contain vital insights for people who work in schools or advocate for education policies. We’re also interested in volumes already considered essential, if, for some reason, recent events have underscored their relevance or cast them in a new light.
In our occasional series of essays, we hope to highlight tomes from each of these categories that belong on the “school choice bookshelf.” The essays will appear intermittently throughout the year, and possibly beyond. Some will be from guest authors, some from writers who will be familiar to regular readers of this blog. As the installments are published, they’ll all be compiled here.
Coming up, on Monday, Step Up For Students president Doug Tuthill will explain why he had some of his employees (that includes me) read The Righteous Mind by political psychologist Jonathan Haidt.
If you’ve got a book that you think has been overlooked in educational policy debates, or that you feel has suddenly found new relevance, we welcome guest submissions, and hope to be surprised. The further afield a book lies from current school choice chatter, the better.
