Equity and Equality
Jaime Matta
Concordia Online
Community of Learners
EDGR 595
Karen Billette
February 27, 2012
Educational equity refers to equal access, opportunities, and expectations in education for all persons, irrespective of their backgrounds or status. As a democratic nation, the United States offers a system of "universal" and free public education as a primary mechanism for providing equal educational access and opportunities to all persons, for preparing its people for civic participation in society, and for the socialization of immigrants.
The basic premise of public schooling in our school district is that students at all grade levels are entitled to equal learning opportunities irrespective of advantages,
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Because school financing is largely dependent on local property taxes, plaintiffs successfully argued that children in school districts with low assessable property values receive a lower-quality education than that available to children in wealthier districts. Observers document that larger classes, fewer certified or qualified teachers, rundown physical plants, low teacher pay, and limited or out-of-date teaching materials are found more often in schools located in poorer areas.
The 1980s standards movement in the United States focused educators, policymakers, and the courts on equality of educational outcomes and on "achievement gaps" among different socioeconomic, ethnic, gender, and disability groups, as measured on standardized achievement and ability tests. The bipartisan No Child Left Behind (NCLB) Act of 2001 followed 2 decades of standards-based reforms in U.S. education. NCLB was passed on the premise that higher standards alone had not resulted in higher levels of achievement, and achievement gaps still persisted in various ethnic and socioeconomic subgroups. Comprehensive visions of educational equity in the United States now advocate broadening resource allocations to achieve student outcomes beyond raising test scores. Recent proposals aim to equalize access of families to an array of health, educational, and supplemental services, both in and out of school, to improve students' cognitive and noncognitive outcomes more comprehensively.
According to the Equality and Human Rights Commission First Triennial Review 2010 “The Equality Act 2010 complements and builds on the provisions of the Equality Act 2006, which itself strengthened several aspects of discrimination law and set out the roles and responsibilities of the Equality and Human Rights Commission.”
All employees analyze their environment and strive to be recognized and rewarded for their hard work and dedication they put into the company, in a word they are seeking justice. Justice can be defined as a person receiving what they feel they are entitled to and if they do not receive what they deserve the situation may board on injustice. Unfortunately in today’s society justice and appreciation are not given out to all those deserving (Pinder, 1998). A major problem to address is how to keep the motivation level high in a company when the employees do not feel appreciated.
One of the greatest differences among public schools is the funding they receive. Public schools across the country have incredibly varied amounts of capital dedicated to them which in turn leads to a disparity in the quality of education a student will receive at these schools. The race of a student, the location they live in, and the wealth of their family greatly correlate to the level of education they will receive. As Harvard professor Jennifer L. Hochschild notes, “Districts with a lot of poor students have lower average test scores and higher dropout rates...The highest spending districts report high test scores, and some of the lowest spending districts report the lowest test scores” (“Social Class in Public Schools.”). The students who attend schools that receive less funding typically obtain an education that is lesser in comparison to schools that receive more money. The inequality in funding within a state has a severe impact on the variation of education quality. In the case of Connecticut, “The district that spends the most provides almost twice as much per student as the district that spends the least” (“Social Class in Public Schools.”). As a result, the schools that receive less funding work with more outdated textbooks and equipment, while schools with more funding can afford to buy new equipment and provide a better environment for the
Justice and equality are both two very abstract concepts with numerous controversial definitions that are never agreed upon. Depending on the situations, justice can be the same as equality, or not. In the modern world, justice is often used as a political slogan, rather than a meaningful pursuit. Meanwhile equality is also one of the leading ideals of political movements, such as equal rights movements for marriage, voting, etc. In order to answer the question: is justice the same as equality, it is necessary to understand the precise meaning of equality and justice, the relationship between the two, the measurement of the two, and their current and historical status.
When President George W. Bush signed the No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB) into law in 2002, the legislation had one goal-- to improve educational equity for all students in the United States by implementing standards for student achievement and school district and teacher performance. Before the No Child Left Behind Act, the program of study for most schools was developed and implemented by individual states and local communities’ school boards. Proponents of the NCLB believed that lax oversight and lack of measurable standards by state and local communities was leading to the failure of the education system and required federal government intervention to correct. At the time, the Act seemed to be what the American educational system
The United States is a country based on equal opportunity; every citizen is to be given the same chance as another to succeed. This includes the government providing the opportunity of equal education to all children. All children are provided schools to attend. However, the quality of one school compared to another is undoubtedly unfair. Former teacher John Kozol, when being transferred to a new school, said, "The shock from going from one of the poorest schools to one of the wealthiest cannot be overstated (Kozol 2)." The education gap between higher and lower-income schools is obvious: therefore, the United States is making the effort to provide an equal education with questionable results.
Robert Green Ingersoll, a lawyer, Civil War veteran, and political leader, once said that "It is a blessed thing that in every age some one had had the individuality enough and courage enough to stand by his own convictions." In Ayn Rand's novel Anthem, Equality 7-2521 represents this salient being. Equality has never been destined to be a street sweeper, instead, it is a sinister motive of the Council that determines his position. This is proven by several aspects throughout the book, encompassing the idea that Equality has been set aside from society from a young age, Equality is an individual in a communistic society, and that the Council has had unjust determinations
M1): Analyze the importance to public services of good citizens respecting equality and supporting them by respecting the key concepts associated with diversity.
Every student must have an equal opportunity to free, fair, equitable, and rigorous education. As educators we must strive to provide students with the best education we possibly can as teachers, community members, administration and policy makers. In order to provide equitable education all learners must be taken into consideration when designing curriculum, lessons, courses and school structure.
The United States, as many believe, is the land of opportunity, however, when looking at individual states, towns, and cities, this popular slogan may seem false to some. Within each state, all schools, such as middle and high schools, may not receive or offer equity. In an effort to revel inequalities within school systems, I will discuss the differences between schools in my town, the apparent lack of public concern about schooling inequality, and what changes could be made in an effort to reduce schooling inequality.
Fair funding would ensure equality of educational opportunities for all children, regardless of background, family income, where they live, or where they attend school. Equal opportunity means that all children and all schools have access to the resources and services needed to provide them with the opportunity to learn (Baker,
In the Declaration of Independence, written on July 4th, 1776, it states, “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights that among these are Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness.” In the quote from the Declaration of Independence, it clearly means “all of us are” created equal, and I believe that if we all work together, we can achieve equality regardless of race, nationality, sexual orientation, religion, etc.. In a report on late February 13th, 2016, NBC News reporter Miranda Leitsinger quoted Judge Allen’s statement regarding the amendment that states—“Our Constitution declares that “all men” are created equal” – without correction. The Declaration also plays an important role in our world today and in recent
Education is essential to attain social mobility, however students face difficult obstacles. Even though we have laws like No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB), however many students that come from low social class families do not have equal opportunities as students that come from higher income households. NCLB is encouraging on its face, but it does not address the unequal distribution of funds for districts. NCLB set standards in which students must achieve scores on standardized test rather than having access to equal opportunities, in
In the United States, public schools get their funding from their respective state. As a student, it can be seen as concerning when one compares how much states spend on their schools. Many schools are inadequate in both an aspect of safety and effectiveness of the learning environment. As a result of inadequate subsidy across America, schools resort to taking drastic measures. Not only are the unequal sources of subsidy a difficulty, but the concept and execution of budget cuts also exacerbate the issue. In order to give every student in America equal opportunities for success, funding should be controlled by the federal government with a policy that enforces equity rather than equality. This is also a viable option that could be carried
one of the most important and complicated dilemmas of human philosophy: how do we choose