Coleman’s Third Report
Abstract
The article analyses the (third) Coleman Report on private and public schools. The report scrutinises the relationship between private and public schools and shows that private school students show better academic achievement. Coleman concluded that these findings provided a strong argument in favour of public financial support for private schools. However,
he identified a number of school characteristics that he believed to be related to student achievement. According to his analysis, these characteristics were not limited to private
schools; public schools exhibiting the same characteristics also had good results. Coleman interpreted the available data in favour of financial aid to private schools, although this was not the only possible interpretation. An alternative conclusion would have been to encourage these characteristics in public schools. Why did Coleman disregard this possibility? Why did he deviate from his usual scientific rigour? The present article suggests that there appear to be two reasons for the narrow interpretation of the relationship between public and private schools in Coleman’s third report. The first lies in Coleman’s notion of contemporary society as a constructed system in which every individual actor holds a place in the structure and requires incentives in order to act to the benefit of society. In the case of education, the goal of the institution is to ensure the high cognitive achievement of students, and the incentive is related to choice and competition. The second reason is related to Coleman’s vision of sociology as a discipline aiding the construction of an effective society.
Downloads
References
Coleman, J. S., Campbell, E. Q., Hobson, C. J., McPartlan, J., Mood, A. M., Weinfeld, F. D., & York, R. L. (1966). Equality of Educational Opportunity. Washington, D.C.: US Government Printing Office.
Coleman, J. S. (1967). Toward open schools. The Public Interest, 3(3), 20–27.
Coleman, J. S. (1975). Recent Trends in School Integration, Educational Researcher, 4(7), 3–12.
Coleman, J. S. (1981). Private schools, public schools, and the public interest. The Public Interest, 17(3), 19–30.
Coleman, J. S., Hoffer, T., & Kilgore, S. (1981a). Public and Private Schools. Chicago: National Opinion Research Center.
Coleman, J. S., Hoffer, T., & Kilgore, S. (1981b). Questions and Answers: Our Response. Harvard Educational Review, 51(4), 526–545.
Coleman, J. S., Hoffer, T., & Kilgore, S. (1982a). Public and Private Schools. Society, 19(2), 4–9.
Coleman, J. S., Hoffer, T., & Kilgore, S. (1982b). Cognitive Outcomes in Public and Private Schools. Sociology of Education, 55(2), 65–76.
Coleman, J. S., Hoffer, T., & Kilgore, S. (1982c). Achievement and Segregation in Secondary Schools: A Further Look at Public and Private School Differences. Sociology of Education, 55(2), 162–182.
Coleman, J. S., Hoffer, T., & Kilgore, S. (1982d). High School Achievement: Public, Catholic, and Private Schools Compared. New York: Basic Books.
Coleman, J. S. (1989). Response to the Sociology of Education Award. Academic Questions, 2(3), 76–78.
Coleman, J. S. (1991). Prologue: Constructed Social Organization. In P. Bourdieu, & J. S. Coleman, (Eds.), Social Theory for a Changing Society (pp. 1–14), Boulder: Westview Press.
Coleman, J. S. (1992). Some Points on Choice in Education. Sociology of Education, 65(4), 260–262.
Coleman, J. S. (1993). The Rational Reconstruction of Society. 1992 Presidential Address. American Sociological Review 58(1), 1–15.
Finn, C. E. (1981). Why Public and Private Schools Matter. Harvard Educational Review, 51(4), 510–514.
Murnane, R. J. (1981). Evidence, Analysis and Unanswered Questions. Harvard Educational Review, 51(4), 483–489.
Murnane, R. J. (1984). A Review Essay – Comparisons of Public and Private Schools: Lessons from the Uproar. The Journal of Human Resources, 19(2), 263–277.
Noell, J. (1982). Public and Catholic Schools: A Reanalysis of ¨Public and Private Schools¨. Sociology of Education, 55(2), 123–132.
Persell, C. H. (2000). Values, Control, and Outcomes in Public and Private Schools. In Hallinan M. H. (Ed.), Handbook of the Sociology of Education (pp. 387–407). New York: Springer.
Sernau, S. (1992). School Choices, Rational and Otherwise: A Comment on Coleman. Sociology of Education, 66(1), 88–90.
In order to ensure both the widest dissemination and protection of material published in CEPS Journal, we ask Authors to transfer to the Publisher (Faculty of Education, University of Ljubljana) the rights of copyright in the Articles they contribute. This enables the Publisher to ensure protection against infringement.
