The free-school failure revived the question whether most people can use freedom well

Evidence

Critics of the free-school movement increasingly raise the time-honored question: Are the majority of youth— or their elders— capable of making good use of freedom? Minus some of the more petty regulations and anachronistic dress codes, perhaps the schools are about all that can be expected— human nature being what it is, the complexity of modern life, and so forth. — Samuel Bowles and Herbert Gintis, Schooling in Capitalist America, 198

Categorization

• XREF: This is a classic conservative/elitist argument structure against democratic participation — parallels the reasoning interrogated in Ambedkar’s elites and in trust literature (what people do with granted freedom). — connects to: Even progressive educators preserved top-down control over children. — Samuel Bowles and Herbert Gintis, Schooling in Capitalist America:…, 489; Liberated middle classes found freedom anxiety-producing and sought to escape it — John T. Jost and Jim Sidanius, Political Psychology, 2138; Compulsory schooling was coercive, backed by threat of imprisonment (+1 more)

Broader Connections

• Liberated middle classes found freedom anxiety-producing and sought to escape it #exemplifies (0.85) — John T. Jost and Jim Sidanius, Political Psychology, 2138
• Compulsory schooling was coercive, backed by threat of imprisonment #exemplifies (0.80)
• The common-sense case against freedom rests on human impotence and being-made #qualifies (0.80)