Professional Bio

Michael S. Merry is professor of philosophy in the department of Child Development and Education. Through the years he also has been loosely affiliated with different program groups outside his department, including political philosophy, urban geography, cultural sociology and political theory.  He received a broad education in the humanities in Chicago, Leuven and New York before earning his doctorate by combining philosophy and educational policy studies at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. 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 topics, and often through a comparative-international frame, he specializes in any of the following: the various features of educational injustice, both institutional and non-institutional; state paternalism and the ethics of intervention; the politics and epistemology of academic research; the ethics of school choice and school segregation, citizenship and civic education, religion and religious schools, and alternative education in its manifold forms.

In addition to scholarship, he frequently contributes to societal debates in Dutch and international media. Recent examples include:

Internationale vergelijkingen kunnen op verschillende manieren ook problematisch zijn. Knack  https://www.knack.be/opinie/internationale-vergelijkingen-kunnen-op-verschillende-manieren-ook-problematisch-zijn/

Zijn structurele investeringen in het onderwijs de oplossing voor ongelijkheid? 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/

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/

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

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/

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

Compensatoir toetsen komt kwaliteit hoger onderwijs niet ten goede. Scienceguide ‘Compensatoir toetsen komt kwaliteit hoger onderwijs niet ten goede’ - ScienceGuide

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)

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

Selected Recent Publications

(2023) Caught in a 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

(2023) 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://www.researchgate.net/publication/367009583_Democratic_Deliberation_in_the_Absence_of_Integration

(2023) Doth He Protest Too Much? Thoughts on Dale Matthew’s racial devaluation thesis’. Dialogue: Canadian Philosophical Review 62 (1): 69-75. https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/dialogue-canadian-philosophical-review-revue-canadienne-de-philosophie/article/doth-he-protest-too-much-thoughts-on-matthews-black-devaluation-thesis/AD212CDF8FA21213D27326616EB2293A

(2023) 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

(2023) 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

Access to all of my publications can be found here:

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

Inaugural lecture