Political Reform = Educational Reform: Values

As a political philosopher, Brighouse's work is all about the political changes needed for reformation of education. His theories on educational reform centre around the rights of a child, giving children a choice in their education. In 2012 Brighouse speaks at a one of a series of talks discussing equality, freedom and American democracy. Held in light of the 2012 presidential campaigns, the talk is entitled "Deep Issues of the 2012 Elections: Equality, Liberty and Democracy". (See next post)
Brighouse speaks of values relating to equality of opportunity and reads a quote from fellow political philosopher, Gerry Cohen. He points out that Cohen has outlined the fact that there are many values relating to equality "probably with more precision than could possibly be useful for practical purposes" but does not comment on what those values are or what should be done about them.
Brighouse lists five values that should be promoted for equality. These values should be undertaken by education in order to ensure equality for life. These values are Personal Flourishing; Effective Navigation of and Contribution to the Economy (career and college readiness); Capacity for Judgement about Personal Values; Capacity for Responsible Citizenship; and Childhood Dignity and Flourishing.
Concerning the second value listed, as commented on in the image of my previous post, Brighouse does not believe education should cater for the economy by teaching children to slot into whatever the economy needs at that time (e.g more nurses/teachers etc) but rather to give the child a choice in what direction they want to take so they are able to contribute to the economy, whilst following a career of their choice.
Regarding the first and last values listed, by flourishing, Brighouse means for a child to educated to flourish in life. To be allowed to be autonomous in their education with the hope that it will encourage autonomy throughout life, therefore promoting equality as it is there own decisions that will govern their lives, not the decisions of their teachers.
The talk given was centred on the US, however, these values can be transferred to the UK education system.
By reforming educational policy, we can hope to see positive changes in our nations children as the grow and "flourish" into adulthood. For example, in the UK, many believe the National curriculum to be very rigid and too structured. Applying Brighouse's values to this adapting or altogether changing the concept of this would make for a freer curriculum, that gives children a choice in their academic education and promoting equality, as far as education and work is concerned, and supporting children's rights.
For further information on Brighouse's opinions, read his blog post "What does it meant to be on the left?" from the blog Crooked Timber, which Brighouse contributes to regularly.
In this blog post he discusses his left wing ideals, speaking of his beliefs for flourishing throughout life and equality to do so. Also he answers some FAQ's about  left wing liberalism on the website OpenLeft, commenting again on equality and flourishing. (Links on the right of this page)