Abstract: The institutionalization of political education requires thought about the kind of schooling that will realize its ends with due regard for whatever moral constraints limit what the state may do for the sake of those ends. It is argued that the liberal state can permissibly show systematic partiality for ‘common schools’ that children from diverse social groups attend on terms of mutual respect over ‘separate schools’ that cater to students on the basis of selective ethnic or religious criteria or the like. On the other hand, there may be a cogent case for state sponsorship of separate schools during the early years of schooling if these accept the ends of liberal political education.

Keywords: common schools, liberalism, mutual respect, partiality, political education, selection, separate schools, state,