Professional Bio

Michael S. Merry is professor of philosophy in the department of Child Development and Education. Before entering the strange world of academia, he spent years as a laborer in a warehouse, a brickyard, a concrete plant, a waste management company, and also worked as a landscaper, a dishwasher, a roofer, a truck driver and a nighttime security officer. Well into his twenties, he then received a broad education in the humanities in Atlanta, Chicago, Leuven and New York. Later still, after some years of teaching, he earned his doctorate by combining philosophy and educational policy studies at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. Over the years he has been visiting fellow at several universities, including Bristol University, New York University and Brown University.

Though he writes on a wide variety of issues, and often through a comparative-international frame, he specializes in any of the following:

• educational injustice, both institutional and non-institutional;
• the cultural and economic features of social exclusion;
• state paternalism and the class-based biases of intervention;
• the politics and epistemology of academic research;
• the geography and ethics of school choice and school segregation;
• the legitimacy problems of citizenship and civic education;
• both religious and secular forms of indoctrination;
• the absence of teacher autonomy in school settings;
• alternative education in its manifold forms, particularly of a communitarian sort.

He also is a frequent contributor to societal debates in Dutch, Belgian and other international media. Recent examples include:

Is burgerschapsvorming een legitieme taak van de school? Knack https://www.knack.be/nieuws/is-burgerschapsvorming-een-legitieme-taak-van-de-school/

Waarom doen we zo weinig tegen discriminatie aan de universiteit? NRC Handelsblad  https://www.nrc.nl/nieuws/2024/08/04/waarom-doen-we-zo-weinig-tegen-discriminatie-aan-de-universiteit-a4861710

Onrecht, whataboutism en het belang van morele consistentie. Joop https://www.bnnvara.nl/joop/artikelen/onrecht-whataboutism-en-het-belang-van-morele-consistentie

Zijn meer leraren wel de oplossing voor de onderwijscrisis? Het Parool https://www.parool.nl/columns-opinie/zijn-meer-leraren-wel-de-oplossing-voor-de-onderwijscrisis~b42a89ae/

Zelfbeschikkiing bij raamprostitutie? Sociale Vraagstukken https://www.socialevraagstukken.nl/zelfbeschikking-bij-raamprostitutie/

Nee, 20 miljard euro heeft ongelijkheid in onderwijs niet opgelost – en meer geld zal dat ook niet doen. De Volkskrant https://www.volkskrant.nl/columns-opinie/opinie-nee-20-miljard-euro-heeft-ongelijkheid-in-onderwijs-niet-opgelost-en-meer-geld-zal-dat-ook-niet-doen~b75842a49/

Internationale vergelijkingen kunnen op verschillende manieren ook problematisch zijn. Knack 'Internationale vergelijkingen kunnen op verschillende manieren ook problematisch zijn'

Het onderwijssysteem is niet de oplossing voor de problemen die het zelf veroorzaakt. Het Parool https://www.parool.nl/columns-opinie/opinie-het-onderwijssysteem-is-niet-de-oplossing-voor-de-problemen-die-het-zelf-veroorzaakt~b877364f/

Wat is de waarde van een doctoraat in Nederland? Joop https://www.bnnvara.nl/joop/artikelen/wat-is-de-waarde-van-een-doctoraat-in-nederland

Mocht Plato zien wat er van de universiteit geworden is, dan zou hij stomverbaasd en bezorgd zijn. Knack https://www.knack.be/nieuws/belgie/onderwijs/mocht-plato-zien-wat-er-van-de-universiteit-geworden-is-dan-zou-hij-stomverbaasd-en-bezorgd-zijn/

Volharden dat onderwijs gelijke kansen biedt, is moreel dubieus. De Volkskrant https://www.volkskrant.nl/columns-opinie/volharden-dat-onderwijs-gelijke-kansen-biedt-is-moreel-dubieus~ba3abdb3/?referrer=https://www.google.com/

Daklozen moet je beschermen, desnoods tegen hun zin. Sociale Vraagstukken https://www.socialevraagstukken.nl/daklozen-moet-je-beschermen-desnoods-tegen-hun-zin/

Het onderwijs maakt lang niet van elk dubbeltje een kwartje. Het Parool https://www.parool.nl/columns-opinie/het-onderwijs-maakt-lang-niet-van-elk-dubbeltje-een-kwartje~b04f1d25/?referrer=https://www.google.com/

Beeldenstormers hebben gelijk: beeld Jan Pieterzoon Coen moet weg. Sociale Vraagstukken https://www.socialevraagstukken.nl/waarom-de-beeldenstormers-gewoon-gelijk-hebben/

Books authored

(2020)  Educational Justice: Liberal ideals, persistent inequality and the constructive uses of critique. New York: Palgrave Macmillan.

(2013)  Equality, Citizenship and Segregation: A defense of separation. New York: Palgrave Macmillan.

(2007)  Culture, Identity and Islamic Schooling: A philosophical approach. New York: Palgrave Macmillan.

Books edited

(2016) Maussen, M., Vermeulen, F., Bader, V., & Merry, M.  Religious Schools in Europe: institutional opportunitities and contemporary challenges (London: Routledge)

(2012) Merry, M, Oulali, I, Steutel, J. & Levering, B. Segregatie in onderwijs en samenleving (Amsterdam: SWP).

(2010) Merry, M. & Milligan, J.  Citizenship, Identity and Education in Muslim Communities: essays on attachment and obligation (New York: Palgrave Macmillan)

Selected Publications

Self-determination on indigenous terms: Tribal colleges as institutional site of healing and resilience. Tribal College and University Research Journal (with Cynthia Lindquist). https://collegefund.org/research/tcurj/

Can schools and libraries curb the functional illiteracy crisis? Insights from the Netherlands. Critical Studies in Education. Online Early (with Rianne van Melik). https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/17508487.2024.2418105?src=exp-la

Majority-minority educational success sans integration: A comparative-international view. The Review of Black Political Economy 50 (2): 194-221 (with Orhan Agirdag). https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/00346446221120825

Educational justice and the gifted. Theory and Research in Education (6) 1: 47-70. https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/1477878507086730

Do inclusion policies deliver educational justice for children with autism? An ethical analysis. Journal of School Choice 14 (1): 9-25. https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/15582159.2019.1644126?src=most-read-all-time

Educational inequality and state-sponsored elite schools: The case of the Dutch gymnasium. Comparative Education 56 (4): 522-546 (with Willem Boterman). https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/03050068.2020.1771872

Democratic deliberation in the absence of integration. In The Cambridge Handbook of Democratic Education (pp. 230-249), J.Culp, D. Yacek & J. Drerup, eds. Cambridge University Press. https://philarchive.org/rec/MERDDI

Caught in a school choice quandary: What should an equity-minded parent do? Theory and Research in Education 21 (2) 155-175. https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/14778785231180469

The public library as social Infrastructure: A Dutch illustration. Social and Cultural Geography 24 (5): 758-777 (with Rianne van Melik). https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/14649365.2021.1965195

Should the homeless be forcibly helped? Public Health Ethics 12 (1): 30-43 (with Bart van Leeuwen). https://academic.oup.com/phe/article/12/1/30/4944889

Can schools fairly select their students? Theory and Research in Education  16 (3): 330-350 (with Richard Arum). https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/1477878518801752

Community, virtue and the white British poor. Dialogues in Human Geography 6 (1): 50-68 (with David Manley & Richard Harris).  https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/2043820615624603

Voting rights for older children and civic education. Public Affairs Quarterly 30 (3): 197-213 (with Anders Schinkel). https://journals.scholarsportal.info/details/08870373/v30i0003/197_vrfocace.xml

Risk, harm and intervention: the case of child obesity. Medicine, Health Care and Philosophy 17 (2): 191-200 (with Kristin Voigt). Risk, harm and intervention: the case of child obesity | Medicine, Health Care and Philosophy

The relevance of cosmopolitanism for moral education. Journal of Moral Education 40 (1): 1-18 (with Doret de Ruyter). https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/03057240.2011.541762

Equality, self-respect and voluntary separation. Critical Review of International Social and Political Philosophy (15) 1, 79-100. https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/13698230.2010.528239

Segregation and civic virtue. Educational Theory 62 (4): 465-486. https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1741-5446.2012.00457.x

Should the state fund religious schools? Journal of Applied Philosophy (24) 3: 255-270. https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/j.1468-5930.2007.00380.x

Constructing an authentic self: The challenges and promise of African-centered pedagogy. American Journal of Education 115 (1): 35-64 (with William New). https://www.journals.uchicago.edu/doi/10.1086/590675

Should educators accommodate intolerance? Homosexuality and the Islamic case. Journal of Moral Education 34 (1): 19-36. https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/03057240500049265

Indoctrination, moral instruction and non-rational beliefs. Educational Theory 55 (4): 399-420. https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1741-5446.2005.00002.x-i1

Social exclusion of Muslim youth in Flemish- and French-speaking Belgian schools. Comparative Education Review (49) 1: 1-22. https://www.journals.uchicago.edu/doi/10.1086/426158

Libertarian bioethics and religion. Bioethics 18 (5): 387-407. https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1467-8519.2004.00406.x

Access to all of my publications can be found here:

https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Michael-Merry-3

Inaugural lecture