Michael S. Merry, 2007
New York, Palgrave MacMillan
$74.95 (hbk), 248 pp.
ISBN: 978‐1‐4039‐7994‐0
This welcome addition to the increasing corpus of academic research into faith schooling focuses primarily on Islamic schools. The book is correctly subtitled ‘A philosophical approach’ because, despite a brief incursion into qualitative research, the book aims to locate the debate about Islamic schooling within the context of some key philosophical discussions within liberal education. These are: cultural coherence; the well‐being of the child; the limits of paternalism (and the limits of the state in education); accountability in schooling; and public and private education. On many levels, the book succeeds in achieving these aims, arguing closely and coherently in a measured tone. Merry presents the claims of liberal educators fairly and accurately, but is also willing to challenge these claims and, importantly, the more intransigent tendencies of some of these claims. Equally, while he discusses contemporary Islamic schooling devoid of any suspicions of covert and anti‐democratic fundamentalist ideology, he does demonstrate an awareness of the complexity and variety of some of the expressions of Islam and the necessity to challenge some of these expressions.
The book is divided into seven chapters and the discussion on Islamic schools is restricted to the Netherlands, Belgium and America, though the emphasis in the book is probably weighted towards issues that are more pertinent to the debates about Islamic schools in America. In Chapter 1, Merry provides a good initial overview of some of the fundamental ideals of liberal education including: civic virtue, economic self‐reliance, autonomy and well‐being. Chapter 2 examines the Politics of Islamic Schooling, arguing for a more sophisticated understanding of Islam and rejecting stereotypical polarisation of the West (secular) and Islam (religious fundamentalism). He presents an interesting overview of the nature, scale and funding provisions of Islamic schools in the Netherlands, Belgium and America. Chapter 3 (Islamic Education between the Ideal and the Real) begins with a useful discussion of divisions within Islam and the alleged low practice rate in the West, though the discussion of the measurement of practice could have been further developed. There are also brief introductions to the theological dimension of the philosophy of Islamic education and the concept of Islamic epistemology. In Chapter 4 (Educating for Cultural Coherence) Merry explores the idea of cultural coherence and engages in an even‐handed debate about the benefits of cultural coherence (e.g. consistency in identity, continuity in values, enhancement of the well‐being of the child) and the objections (e.g. replication of gendered roles, potential denial of right of exit from culture). This chapter is followed by very insightful discussions of the well‐being of the child (Chapter 5, The Well‐Being of Children and the Limits of Paternalism) and the issues of accountability and oversight (Chapter 6, For the Sake of the Child: Religious Schools and Accountability) that are at the heart of the debate in America concerned with private religious schools and the controversial and problematic proposals for their potential re‐location to the public school system. In Chapters 4 to 6, Merry demonstrates considerable mastery of the nuances and complexity of these liberal education themes, as he critically reviews a series of arguments and counter arguments.
This is, in many respects, an excellent book and one that merits close study and engagement, but it does contain some limitations. First, Merry discusses methods in the introduction and refers to the small‐scale qualitative work he has undertaken in Islamic schools in America. He explains that the small number of interviews served to confirm, more or less, the findings of extant reports and that the book would ultimately be directed towards philosophical discussion. This is a very concise summary of his comments, but his discussion of the use of qualitative methods lacks academic rigour and is quite disappointing. The reader might question, after scrutiny of Merry's own account of the limitations of his approach to qualitative research, his depth of understanding and level of preparation. Second, perhaps the individual chapters of the book, based on previously published work, do not always create a cohesive whole? This comment is not intended to detract from the quality of the scholarship and internal coherence of the majority of the individual chapters, and this may be the result of drawing together so many complex sets of ideas and arguments, but are the chapters always coherently linked (e.g. could Chapters 1 to 3 have been more coherently linked to Chapters 4 to 6)? Third, Merry states that Islamic schools are not, in his opinion, a special case in the faith school debate. Perhaps this is the case at the philosophical level—perhaps—but should philosophers such as Merry pose deeper and more searching questions about the nature and the integration of Islamic epistemology with the aims of Western education? Further, there is an argument that Islamic schools can be considered a special case in terms of the perception of their position in contemporary societies and their impact on educational debates. Perhaps the difficulty with Merry's viewpoint is that his insights into the Islamic populations (and their attitude to school education) and Islamic schools appear to be heavily influenced by the American context and these insights probably need to draw on a deeper knowledge and understanding of the variety of Muslim populations and schools in the wider Western world. Fourth, there is a curious anomaly in the short concluding chapter (Chapter 7, Islamic Schools and the Future): Merry draws a fairly superficial and flawed, and possibly unnecessary, comparison between the issues facing contemporary Islamic schools in America and the fight for Catholic schools in America in the nineteenth century. In this comparison, he draws indiscriminately from research into Catholic schools within a variety of national, social and political contexts—creating some confusion for the reader.
There is much to admire in this book. Merry is a very skilful academic writer and he argues in a logical and engaging manner, incorporating extensive and interesting footnotes. This is an important book and a significant contribution to scholarship. It is highly recommended.
© 2010, Stephen J. McKinney