Equal Education

Education benefits society because it is viewed as a means to enable citizens to achieve happiness and morality. Thomas Jefferson believed that instruction would enable the citizen to safeguard his or her own liberties: "Guided by a knowledge of history and the reading of newspapers, the individual would exercise reason and moral common sense to make political decisions" (Spring, 1990,p. 45). In Jefferson's viewpoint, equal educational opportunity was necessary to promote natural order in a free society.

Even today, one of the major purposes of education is to prepare students to meet their societal duties, both civic and moral. A consensus of citizens agree that equal educational opportunity is in the best interest of everyone. Various means exist to accomplish equal opportunity, including the integration of schools, requiring the same curriculum for all students, instruction of multicultural curriculum in schools, spending more time on underachieving students, requiring parental participation in schools, and requiring remedial classes. The problem that American schools face is the lack of consensus on what method is most

. . .
open to charges of social-class, racial, and sexual discrimination. Many modern educators adhere to the tenets of the common school movement, but with alterations to curriculum that reflect the pluralistic nature of American society. Because the correlation between low culture and social disadvantage is high, all students, regardless of socioeconomic status should be provided with the basic educational tools, namely reading, writing, arithmetic, arts and science, and character development. Such a basic curriculum gives all students access to the establishment: the forces in control of substantial financial resources, the political system, industry, business, the military, the professions, and social organizations. As Spring (1990) puts it, "In future generations, if students share something of a common educational background, then nearly everyone will have a chance to pursue the career of his or her authentically made choice (as much as individual talent allows)" (p. 37). In recognition of the importance of cultural diversity, however, this uniform curriculum must incorporate the contributions of a multiplicity of ethnic, religious, and gender groups. Environment and employment are intertwined with education in creating t
. . .

Some common words found in the essay are:
Horace Mann, Wagner Jr, Thomas Jefferson, West Oakland, Child Education, Stuart Mill, , educational opportunity, equal educational opportunity, equal educational, Urban Education, Review Vol, American Indian, socioeconomic status, common school, jr 1993, kierstead wagner, menacker 1990, kierstead wagner jr, wagner jr 1993, spring 1990, wagner jr, common school movement, providing equal educational, children,
Approximate Word count = 1574
Approximate Pages = 6 (250 words per page)

More Essays on Equal Education