political equality

Though out history the institution of education has made great strides towards equality for all students regardless of race, gender, physical or mental abilities, and socio-economic status. As an avid reader and equal rights activist I am up to speed with the political strides and legislatures that have been put into action to allow schools to become more diverse and better integrated. From brown vs. the board of education to the no child left behind act, there is evidence that our government has made equal education a priority at some point or another. In this article Labree breaks up the idea of democratic equality into three sections; citizenship training, equal treatment and equal access. In comparison to the school district I grew up in Kiley middle school* is a far cry from equal. In this blog I will use my experiences inside an urban middle school to see how equal schools really are.

First is the idea of citizenship training, this is the idea that “a high level of shared education is essential to a free, democratic society and to the fostering of a common culture.” However this idea of higher education is useless when half of the students in your class are unable to read the “higher education” material presented to them. How can school promote democratic unity if they are lacking essential resources like computers or even up to date textbooks while a school district 5 miles away just received wireless internet. If students don’t see themselves equal with outside schools they can’t see themselves working equally with them as adults.

Second political goal is the pursuit of equal treatment. The government has worked very hard to ensure legislatively that all students get an equal opportunity to public education. The equal opportunity to go to school is not the same as having equal education. Many of the teachers that I came into contact with at Kiley were new teachers or teachers that couldn’t find a job in their specific area of study. These teachers were forced here economically because they could not find a job anywhere else. They are frustrated and unhappy with the situation their in. That idea alone proves that not all schools are equal. Unhappy teachers make for an unhappy classroom, ultimately hurting the students and their education. There is no passion or drive to motivate these students, especially when these teachers are just trying to survive the year and get out.

The last political goal is equal access. This is the idea that all children should be given access to a higher education. In the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries that meant high school. If we it were 1950 Kiley would have met this political goal. However with the changing times and the increase competitiveness, high school is not going to cut it for these kids. If they expect to be at an even playing field with their peers they are going to have to be educated for a college bound life. Yet I do not see any motivation by the school to push towards high education, this mainly has to do with the ses of the school. Education in Labree’s terms should not be affected by ses. These political goals were not put in place with a disclaimer that said unless your district is poor.

Nothing can be equal without the equal distribution of money. Until the government can figure out a way to do that there will always be inconstancies in education.