Schulwahlfreiheit kontra chancengleichheit: Amerikanische politische kultur und die selbstblockierung der amerikanischen schulreform

The United States' persistent difficulties to revitalize public education and implement "world standards" are interpreted in the context of deep-seated conflicts in the American political culture. The paper argues that the conflict between individual liberty and equality, characteristic as it is for American political culture, is at the bottom of the polarization and self-obstruction of American school reform between the imperatives of "choice" and "equality", "excellence" and "equity." The prospects for profound change would, so it seems, depend on the ability of American educators and politicians, to overcome the polarization and provide a rationale for public education capable of integrating the opposing, but in a certain sense complementary demands of excellence and equity.