The Law of Education: Educational Rights and the Roles of Virtues, Perfectionism, and Cultural Progress

This article recognizes the importance of rights-talk in the law of education, but encourages supplementing that rights-talk with a focus on some basic and largely uncontroversial personal and civic virtues; as well as on perfectionism in the sense of self-realization; and finally on genuine cultural progress over time. Each of these areas of emphasis are argued to be compatible with sound understandings of broadly liberal values, including freedom and autonomy; equality; dignity; and community. To illustrate both the problems and the possibilities of this expanded legal focus throughout the law of education, this article then works through the example of the Supreme Court's recent Horne v. Flores case.