Equality of Educational Opportunity.
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The right to equal educational opportunity.
The principle of equality in educational chances says that everyone should be able to attend educational services regardless of their individual talents. The idea that there should be uniformity in educational opportunities, where everyone has reasonable and equal access to decent quality education, regardless of their background, gender, race, or religion, and without any form of segregation, is protected under various international conventions and treaties. According to Article 26 of the United Nations’ Universal Declaration of Human Rights, “Everyone has the right to receive an education.” Education must be provided free of charge, at the very least at the “elementary and essential phases” of one’s existence (UN General Assembly resolution 217 A, 1948). As a result, it is widely understood that children should have equitable access to educational opportunities. Educational achievements are widely considered to be a critical factor of how successful societies are in achieving their goals. It is believed that variances in skill dispersion are responsible for variations in society wages. A child’s chances of success in the labor market are consequently greatly influenced by their educational attainment, and their life chances should not be defined by arbitrary variables such as the location of their birth, race, or social status. It is consequently critical that the principle of educational equality remains a fundamental objective.
The issue of equal educational opportunity can be classified as a legal one. It is also essential that if governments provide a service such as education, all citizens, regardless of their social level, should be able to take advantage of that provision. Almost every industrialized society has a legal obligation that children attend school for a defined period of time during their lives (Shields). Education, in contrast to other policies, is under the jurisdiction of government institutions and has the capacity to reach a great majority of children, independent of social, ethnic, or gender differences. Education also has the potential to reach a vast majority of children. Education is one of the most powerful instruments a government can employ to exert influence over its citizens. A consequence of this is that there are limits that prevent an equitable distribution of learning across a country (Shields). Some children may suffer dignitary injury as a result of unequal distribution of educational resources, which is a type of hurt that is detrimental to one’s sense of self-worth.
Equal educational opportunities in the United States have been hampered by court battles involving persons of color, according to the National Education Association. Certain judicial decisions resulted in the segregation of students in schools based on their skin tone. This issue was vividly demonstrated by a Supreme Court decision in 1896 that permitted racial discrimination in public schools and universities (Spring 146). In the aftermath of that ruling, the United States was forced to develop its own conception of race as a result of the Naturalization Act of 1790. Naturalized citizenship was only available to emigrants who were free white individuals under the terms of the law. The restriction on naturalized citizens’ ability to be white lasted until 1952, when the US Supreme Court was forced to define what it meant to be white. When the southern states passed the one drop of blood rule, they added another layer of intricacy to the situation. The one-drop rule of blood established that anyone who possessed African heritage, regardless of how far back they went, was considered an African American, according to the rule (Spring 147). Throughout its history, the United States has seen attempts to define race. In recent years, the topic of racial classification has been framed in terms of the principle of educational opportunity for all. School policies are being implemented in an effort to narrow the achievement gap between minority and non-minority students.
The concept of equal educational opportunity is predicated on the principle of equal treatment under the law. Specifically, the fourteenth amendment to the United States Constitution established that everyone is expected to get equal treatment under the law and that no one is expected to receive special treatment based on race, ethnicity, socioeconomic class, gender, or religious affiliation (Spring 153). When the fourteenth constitutional amendment was ratified, it served to protect fundamental human rights embodied in the Bill of Rights from being violated by laws established by local governments and state legislatures. The change ensured that states would not be able to take away any rights granted to a citizen of the United States of America under the Constitution. Specifically, the amendment required that once state governments established a system of education, the service must be made available to all residents of that state on an equal basis (Spring 153). It was intended that a specific provision would be triggered in states that wished to provide for children with special needs. In 1954, a desegregation ruling invalidated the idea of separate but equal by finding that even if the schools had equivalent teachers and other facilities, the schools would still be unequal because of racial segregation in the student body.
In 1964, a major step was taken toward the elimination of segregation in schools and the promotion of equal educational opportunities for all students. Congress approved a critical civil rights statute that created a legal framework for requiring school desegregation to take place. The Civil Rights Act of 1964, known as Title VI, made it easier to withhold education money from schools that continued to practice racial segregation. The statute stated that no person could be denied admission to a school because of the color of their skin, their ethnicity, or their race. The act served as a cornerstone for federal control of public schools in the United States through influencing local education policies. As a result of this, the Federal Office of Education was transformed into a policing agency, with the job of ascertaining whether schools were segregated and what actions were being made to bring about their desegregation (Spring 155). The act reduced segregation in schools in the South, and plans for abolishing discrimination were handed to the federal education office in the late 1960s, paving the way for the Civil Rights Act of 1964.
According to a 2014 research, the number of persons of different races who have equal educational chances has increased. According to the UCLA Civil Rights Project’s research on school segregation, the number of white students has decreased by 30%, while the number of Latino students has increased by nearly 500% in schools with white students. According to these statistics, a major proportion of suburban enrollment consisted of black and Latino children who were enrolling in schools with a low proportion of white pupils (Spring 156). They also imply that Latino and African students are more likely to attend schools with a large concentration of impoverished pupils, whereas Asians and white students are more likely to attend middle-class schools. As the paper points out, Latino pupils are now more separated than black children, according to the data. Additionally, because black and Latino kids are already more economically separated, they are more likely to attend schools with a large concentration of low-income students (Spring 156). The statistics presented above indicate that a rising proportion of Latino and black pupils are relocating to suburban areas. The dispersal of these students was indicative of a broader dispersal of minority groups away from major urban areas in the United States.
Historically, racial segregation in the United States has been strongly established in the country’s system of geographically delineated school districts. Schools in affluent neighborhoods are some of the best in the country (Spring 101). The cost of housing in certain neighborhoods is so exorbitant that it is out of reach for persons from lower socioeconomic classes. Members of the lowest social classes, who are primarily members of American minority groups, such as blacks and Latinos, relocate to areas where they can afford low-cost housing. The majority of wealthy neighborhoods in the United States are located near big cities, where housing values are extremely high. In some school districts, the differences that occur depending on where different people of different socioeconomic classes live result in a type of economic segregation because of where they live (Spring 102). Disparities in educational achievements are a result of inequalities in learning environments.
Local state funds, which receive contributions from local property taxes, provide funding for public schools. It appears that some schools may be segregated depending on where they are located, based on the transfer of black and Latino children from America’s major cities into suburban neighborhoods. (Shields). This patchwork depicts the racial and socioeconomic class segregation that occurs in the quest for equal educational opportunities as a result of residential segregation in the search for equal educational opportunities. The amount of student funding that each student receives varies dramatically across all of the states in the United States. For example, it has been demonstrated that some of these discrepancies in some states are higher than the intrastate variances that have gotten more attention in the past (Shields). The laws intended to offer equal educational opportunities have persisted to allow for financing discrepancies that disproportionately affect poor Americans, the majority of whom are persons of color, despite efforts to close the gap. The disproportionate flow of resources to children from the upper quartile of society makes it difficult for children from lower quintiles of society to have an equal opportunity of achieving success.
In the United States, a person’s social class has the potential to have significant ramifications. It is possible for one’s position in the social class hierarchical system to have an impact on key aspects of a person’s life, including medical care, education, and religious affiliations, as well as their interactions with the criminal justice system (Boundless Sociology). As a result, social class can be characterized as a hierarchical grouping of individuals in an order based on wealth, income, education, occupation, or social network, with the lowest being the most privileged. American social classes are a contentious notion, with social scientists debating the models, definitions and even the question of whether or not social classes still exist in the country. However, regardless of the social class model that is employed, social and economic standing are linked to a certain set of resources and possibilities in some way. A person’s social and financial situation can be defined in the same way that a person’s position in the social ladder can be (Boundless Sociology). Wealth, educational achievements, and income are all factors that influence one’s standing in the hierarchy.
Social classes play a crucial role in determining educational chances for all students regardless of their background. People who are at the top of the social ladder are more likely to attend prominent schools or schools of greater quality than those at the bottom. Lower-class individuals, on the other hand, are more likely to enroll in low-income schools or schools located in suburban areas of larger cities (Boundless Sociology). As a result, high-class residents are more likely to have greater levels of education, which translates into higher earnings in the workplace. The high class also can access more education advantages as they can afford private schooling for their children. The high-class members also have the choice of enrolling their children in public state-funded schools that are likely to be of higher quality than members of the lower groups who live in impoverished neighborhoods (Boundless Sociology). High-end areas tend to have a higher tax return, and as a result, their schools are of higher quality and have better facilities than those in poor states.
In America today, social class is the single most crucial factor that has a significant influence on how ready a student is when the child gets enrolled in a school. A low social class places a child further away in the starting lineup for studies (Garcia and Weiss). The problem is further compounded by factors such as race and ethnicity. Low social class poses a significant barrier in young children’s readiness to start learning, reading, and doing math. Research conducted by the starting gate showed substantial gaps in the reading abilities of black and Latino when compared to Hispanics and Asians. Racially based gaps are seen to shrink when factors such as social class are considered. These performance gaps between students from different social types indicate significant unmet needs in underprivileged schools (Garcia and Weiss). The results also show that there us a lot of untapped potential in children coming from low social, economic statuses.
Low economic prospects can be attributed to small educational achievement that leads to a lack of social mobility across different generations. The society is also losing when talents in children remain utilized and are allowed to fallow due to lack of support (Garcia and Weiss). The disparities between educational and economic inequalities indicate apparent failures that the American society has not been able to solve of unequal educational opportunity that betrays the ideal of the “American dream.”
Another critical factor in the determination of equality for education opportunity is education and income. Education and income play a central role in the ability of a school to provide equality of opportunity. Different placements in different industries contribute directly to the average anal salary in a person (Spring 95). As mentioned above, the level of educational achievement plays a vital role in the economic success of a person. Other factors, such as race and gender, also contribute to determining the personal income of a person. There exist disparities in the annual wages and lifetime earning of people based on gender and race. Generally, white men make more than anybody (Spring 97). The disparities, however, decrease with an increase in the level of education. However, in all levels of academic achievement, men tend to earn more than those women. These statistics indicate that income in the United States of America is related to the level of educational achievement. However, some factors such as race and gender negate some of the advantages gained in the labor market by having an increased level of education (Spring 98). Inequalities in access to education opportunities deny some children from lower social classes the chance to enjoy these advantages.
Some policies implemented tend to reinforce the inequality problem that singingly affects educational opportunities. Children who come from poor backgrounds tend to bring more issues to schools that children who come from more affluent backgrounds could avoid. These problems affect their readiness to read as well as inhibit their ability to take advantage of what they are taught (Hochschild 827). Issues that are associated with reduced children include poor health and nutrition, family instability, frequent movements ad, and lack of or having few educational materials. Another risk is that there is a higher chance of having parents who do not have a formal education (Hochschild 827). In a bid to reduce this class related disparities, policymakers must address these problems that cannot be blamed entirely on the educational system. Public schools may as well contribute to the reduction of the harm brought to school by children from low-income families. Financial inequality across school districts, excessive ability grouping, and offerings of unequal curricular across schools as well as disparities in the quality of teaching across schools add up to the disadvantages children from impoverished backgrounds get (Hochschild 831). Improving funding in poor districts can help in raising test scores and reducing the level of educational inequality based on specific neighborhoods. Children living in impoverished areas are much more likely to be taught by less effective teachers. The cumulative impact of poor teaching can be difficult to reverse (Hochschild, 829). To enable children from low social classes access good education, policymakers need to design policies that send poor children to schools that have wealthier children or seek to provide an education in their neighborhoods that encompasses features of schooling for wealthy children.
In conclusion, equality for educational opportunity advocates for access to education opportunities for everyone regardless of factors such as race, gender, ethnicity, or social class. American history has had legal tussles involving racial segregation in public schools. Congress passed the Title VI act of 1964 that brought a change by withholding funds meant for public schools that continued with the practice of racial segregation. The law laid the cornerstone for federal America to control the education system through the federal education office. By 2014, the number of Latino and black student’s enrollment in public school had risen tremendously. Inequality in education opportunities is tied to racial racially related factors such as educational neighborhoods as well as social classes. Black and Latino students mostly enroll in schools in suburban districts where the cost of living is considerably low. On the other hand, rich children are enrolled in schools in affluent neighborhoods in central cities. The level of education is better than in poor district schools. Policymakers can solve this disparity in education brought about by economic factors by increasing funding for schools in poor neighborhoods.
Works Cited Boundless Sociology. Stratification, Inequality, and Social Class in the U.S. n.d. 08 May 2020. .
Garcia, Emma and Elaine Weiss. “Education inequalities at the school starting gate.” 2017. https://www.epi.org/publication/education-inequalities-at-the-school-starting-gate/ . 08 May 2020. .
Hochschild, Jennifer L. “Social Class in Public Schools.” Journal of Social Issues (2003): 821-840.
Shields, Liam, Newman, Anne and Satz, Debra. Equality of Educational Opportunity. Stanford: Metaphysics Research Lab, Stanford University, 2017. https://plato.stanford.edu/archives/sum2017/entries/equal-ed-opportunity/ .
Spring, Joel. American Education. New York: Routledge Taylor and Francis Group, 2018.
UN General Assembly resolution 217 A. “Universal Declaration of Human Rights.” 10 December 1948. United Nations. 08 May 2020. .

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