Unpacking Value Clash in School Choice: Reactions to a Liberal School in a Conservative Community

Abstract

Myriad academic, situational, and organizational factors play an important role in parental decision-making for school choice. We propose a framework for how hot knowledge is processed through the lens of parents’ own sociopolitical values (i.e., constraints) to inform preferences. This study employs 8 months of ethnographic case study data from the Dominican Republic to understand how parents make decisions in contexts where a school’s values (liberalism) contrast with the majority belief of the community (traditionalism). We observe three primary choice rationalities, ranging from belief in the opportunities that liberal education can provide to rejection of the liberal option. This clash of values between a school and its surrounding community has implications for our understanding of which families may or may not choose to access nontraditional education around the globe.