Jewish Day Schools, School Choice, and the Dilemmas of Religious Education

Taking as his point of departure Milton Friedman’s 1955 essay “The Role of Government in Education,” Jason Bedrick discusses the history of religion in American public education, the various ways the government could encourage and subsidize private religious schools, the religious-freedom concerns that accompany such funding, and the widely perceived “tuition crisis” affecting Modern Orthodox communities. Bedrick argues that “it would be truer to the spirit of pluralism and freedom in this country [to have] a system that subsidized individuals and families and allowed them to choose the sort of schools that work best for [themselves] and reflect their values.” (Interview by Eric Cohen. Audio, 42 minutes.)