Through the Lens of Equity:

Five Important Events in American EducationThrough the Lens of Equity:By: Rose MichelsSpring 2012

All mankind... being all equal and independent, no one ought to harm another in his life, health, liberty or possessions.

John Locke publishesEssay Concerning Human Understanding 1690

All people are born equal with a tabula rasa or blank slate.

The idea that all people are created equal and deserve an education goes back far before the birth of our nation. John Locke, an English philosopher who influenced American Education as much as American Politics. The idea that all men are created equal as written in the declaration of independence was a direct reference to John Lockes philosophy of the tabula rasa or blank slate where all people are born equal and independent and that their experiences and education mold them into the people they eventually become. Locke rejected the concept of the divine right of kings and the concept of predestination. His philosophy was attractive to people fleeing state controls for an independent life in which each individual controlled his own destiny in a new world of limitless frontiers. In Some Thoughts Concerning Education, Locke stated that people may be better at some things by nature, but that they are shaped by knowledge. He called universal education essential for the survival of any nation; and that by denying any one group of people an education, the demise of a nation would surely follow. These ideas would later be fully embraced by Thomas Jefferson and Benjamin Franklin who went on to secularize the curricula of colonial grammar schools and colleges by including utilitarian courses in science, mechanics, commerce and other subjects needed to build a new nation.

21868-The 14th Amendment AdoptedAll persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and of the state wherein they reside. No state shall make or enforce any law which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens of the United States; nor shall any state deprive any person of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws.

As the video states, the 14th amendment was adopted in order to provide equal protection for all of its citizens under the law. This amendment has been broadly interpreted to mean that it would protect all citizens regardless of race or religion in some cases and in some cases, such as Plessy v. Ferguson, it would be used to rule that the 14th amendment was not to include equal protection under the law for people of color.

To this day, this amendment remains one of the most widely used amendments in equal rights issues with cases that include separate but equal laws as in the case of Brown v. The Board of education of Topeka. 58 years after ruling that separate but equal laws were allowable in Plessy v. Ferguson, the Supreme Court decided that these laws were unconstitutional since the separate facilities were inherently unequal.

As well as being the test for equal rights cases, the 14th amendment helped pave the way for the Civil Rights Act of 1964, which clearly outlined equal protection as being one that is afforded to all citizens regardless of race, gender, age, creed, or place of birth. One more piece of legislation that was birthed from the 14th amendment was the Equal Education Opportunities Act of 1974, which went further to state that not only do schools have to prevent discrimination but they have to remove any barriers to that limit equal access to education. This act was especially important to English Language Learners who were often excluded from educational opportunities because of their inability to read and write in English.3John Dewey authorsDemocracy and Education1916

John Deweys ideas on education fueled the progressive education movement, which idealized student centered learning. Dewey believed that each student came to school with different interests and experiences and that the job of the school and teacher was to instill a desire to learn through educational experiences that helped each student become an effective member of a democratic society.

Deweys views not only inspired the progressive education movement which began in 1919, but also correlated to Vygotskys theory of social constructivism where culture gives cognitive tools needed for development. With respect to equity, Dewey and Vygotsky took into account that each person would develop a different set of experiences based on cultural history, social context, and language; all of which are specific to every students background.4

1994 IASA (Improving American Schools Act)

The Improving American Schools Act signed by President Bill Clinton put into the forefront, support for bilingual education, increased aid for immigrant education and drop out prevention programs. More importantly, it reauthorized the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965, which was designed to provide equal access to all children. Again, these pieces of legislation worked to ensure that each student had access to a free and quality education.

One key aspect of the IASA were the reforms to Title I where school choice was implemented. This now meant that students were able to have access to choice programs within districts and that all parents were able to select the public school their children would attend. Unfortunately, some of this legislation designed to help students have access to better schools have been misused and parents sometimes ask for transfers for reasons other than choice programs. In particular, some parents use school choice as a means to send their children to a school that meets their closeness to work or demographic ties, more than anything else.52007 PCS v. Seattle School DistrictHighly contested 5-4 decision strikes down Seattle School Districts policy of using race as a secondary reason for admitting African American students to high schools in order to achieve racial balance.

This case, along with Meredith v. Jefferson County Board Education really was an interesting step in using race to achieve racial balance in schools. Seattles school district was allowing students to apply to any high school in the district. Since some schools were becoming highly sought after and there werent enough spaces, the schools would look at race as the secondary factor in admitting students of color to achieve racial balance at a particular school. This case went through District Court as a group of parents known as Parents Involved in Community Schools argued that the practice violated the 14th amendment as well as Washington State law. The case was dismissed and the tiebreaker was upheld. In an appeal, the decision was reversed and the tiebreaker for admitting students was struck down. However, the case didnt end there. The case went through the circuit courts and then a panel where the decision was again dismissed and then again upheld. This teetering eventually caused the case to be seen by the Supreme Court where it was narrowly decided with a 5-4 vote against using race as a factor in determining admittance to the school.

Many may view this practice in alignment with the model of Affirmative Action, but the Supreme Court eventually concluded that the rules were not narrowly tailored and was more about demographics than about improving achievement. To quote Chief Justice Roberts, The way to stop discrimination on the basis of race is to stop discriminating on the basis of race.

6The future

As the drama of improving American education continues to play out, it is clear that even early thinkers understood the need to give all members of our society a high quality of education. After all, regardless of individual beliefs of who deserves what privileges and benefits, we would all agree that those who can help themselves become better contributors to a democratic society than those who are bound to the of others. As the Chinese proverb goes, Give a man a fish and you feed him for a night, but teach a man to fish and you feed himself for life.. All people deserve the knowledge of independence and the examples in this show are great examples of reaching that goal. 7Referenceshttp://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/authors/j/john_locke.html#THeygbo80rKG68PZ.99

http://www.history.org/history/teaching/enewsletter/volume2/june04/primsource.cfm

http://www.iancfriedman.com/?p=1129

http://lawhighereducation.com/52-equal-educational-opportunities-act-eeoa.html

http://www.wilderdom.com/experiential/ExperientialDewey.html

http://www.oyez.org/cases/2000-2009/2006/2006_05_908/

http://www.cloudnet.com/~edrbsass/educationhistorytimeline.html