Educational Opportunity and the Limits of Legal Obligation
52 Pages Posted: 19 Oct 2020 Last revised: 2 Nov 2020
Date Written: September 6, 2020
Abstract
It is often thought that a fundamental right to education should be recognized under the federal Constitution. The courts, however, have generally been less than fully receptive to this idea. This Article offers reasons for courts to reconsider this position. Crucially, the Article points out an important implication of denying basic educational opportunity. Specifically, failing to provide a minimally sufficient opportunity for basic education undermines any claim to any morally binding general legal authority over those persons denied such opportunity. That is, persons denied basic educational opportunity typically have no moral obligation to obey the dictates of the established legal regime. For such persons, the regime is, on mainstream theories, illegitimate. This conclusion should provoke a reconsideration of whether it is justifiable, overall, to fail to acknowledge and enforce a federal constitutional right to an educational opportunity that is minimally sufficient for broad regime legitimacy.
Keywords: educational opportunity, schools, legitimacy, authority, obligation, equal protection
JEL Classification: K10, K30
Suggested Citation: Suggested Citation