It was strange to read that George Parker equated equality regarding schools with opportunities or options, aka choice.
According to the thesaurus, “equality” means parity, fairness, equivalence, sameness or equal opportunity. Equal opportunity is not the same thing as options or choices. Equal opportunity in education means that the schools have equal quality in terms of their resources. Options or choice does not guarantee equal resources will be offered in each option or that well-resourced schools would be willing and able to take everyone who wanted to enroll.
Equality in education means that all schools are well resourced. If all schools were well-resourced, who would be concerned about options?
When my neighborhood SLPS elementary school was closed last year, having lost half its students to a nearby charter school – which DESE closed, because it was one of the lowest-performing schools in the state – I asked my neighbors who sent their children there how they felt.
They all liked the neighborhood school and did not want it to close. When asked where they would send their children in the fall, all were unhappy about losing their neighborhood public school and did not like any of the alternatives. One planned to move to the suburbs so his children could continue to walk to school.
Another said poignantly, “I have no choice.”
And that is the crux of the matter. When given options, the choices some people make prevent others from getting what they choose: a neighborhood public school. Not everyone benefits from school choice. If all of our schools were as well-resourced as we want them to be, choice would not be a concern.
We live in a society which is controlled by people who are determined to prevent our public schools from being equally resourced. Ensuring educational equality is the civil rights battle of our time.
Dividing up the constituency for public education by syphoning off families into separate and unequal schools – such as charter schools, most of which happen to be more segregated than traditional public schools – so that those who feel better off might no longer be concerned about those left behind (and no longer feel the need to fight for equality), is no way to ensure that every child receives equal educational resources.
Choice divides us.
Communities used to unite behind their public schools. Because the forces who want to prevent equality are wealthy and powerful, it will take unity and years of long, hard effort to ensure educational equality. Those who equate equality with options are misguided. Opting out of the effort to work for equity for all children comforts only the powers that be.
