Unit 12 of the study guide for Social Issues in Education, "The Liberal Defence of Hierarchy: A Critical Finale," proposes "radical" solutions aimed at eliminating injustices found in public educational systems. Liberal defenses of hierarchy have been based on the argument that if all are given equal educational opportunity, those who rise to the top will be the brightest and the best. As De Castell points out in her chapter 12 essay, this argument expresses, "in capsule form, a common justification for the allocation of educational goods and services, and for the 'meritocracy' which results" (220). Based on such an argument, it follows (or so the liberal sentiment goes) that those who do not succeed do so because of their own lack of merit. The society, with all of its educational social programs, is not to be held responsible for individual "failure." The problem with the view expressed above comprises the main thrust of De Castell's essay. In the true spirit of egalitarianism, who is to determine which skills, knowledge, values, and attitudes of a diverse racial and cultural population are to be valued by educational social policies? In fact, cultural and racial diversity may serve as barriers to a workplace still controlled by the dominant social class.
If schools purport to be agents of social progress, it is their duty to insure that "out-group," or minority-status students, have equal access to education relative to individual differences. However, because schools cannot be all things to all people, a dilemma arises: which racial and cultural standards will prevail? Perhaps the only "relevant" cultural standard is that which is perpetuated by the most powerful culture, as represented by an intransigent status quo. Maybe efforts at egalitarianism are futile. In "The Liberal Defence of Hierarchy," De Castell notes, "Precious to our 'liberal democracy' is the conviction that success is a matter of individual abilit...