Equal education means that everyone will receive the same education. There is no such thing as separate but equal. Having segregated schools will only widen the division between diverse groups of people. Segregated schools will only encourage people in power to act upon their stereotypes or implicit biases. I do not believe separate but equal schools have a place in our society.
Our society has long moved on from that period of our country’s history, there would be no benefit in moving backward. Being around a diverse environment leads to a broader range of education. Children benefit from being around various groups of people by learning more people/ communication skills and learning about different cultures, disabilities, histories, etc. Children also learn to be more accepting by being around people who are different from them. Even in today’s world, there is still separation among kids in the school system due to social class.
Parents who are able to afford to give their children a better education put their children in private schools whereas parents who can’t afford the tuition have to send their children to public schools. It might sound fair to some but it’s not. A more academically advanced child may not be academically situated enough in a public school but won’t be able to pursue furthering their education because their parents can’t afford it. There could be a child out there that has the ability to find cures for diseases but won’t because they don’t have the same opportunities as other children do. Even within the public school systems, there is a division among social classes.
Funding for schools gets determined by the property taxes placed on the area. People who are able to live in places where high taxes are imposed get to send their child to a public school that receives more funding than schools in less expensive areas. More funding means a better education because the schools are able to afford higher qualified teachers/ instructors, after-school tutors, more books, more equipment, more academic programs, a better athletics program, more field trips, etc. However, public schools are meant to be equal to one another but in reality, a change in zip code can make all the difference. I believe that the new form of a separate but equal concept that has taken place in our country isn’t something that should continue.
Children are being held back from pursuing their academic abilities because of the schools they attend. There needs to be a better way to provide equal education for all students because the difference in education leads to less mobility among the social classes. Less mobility among the social classes also means less representation among unrepresentative groups of people. Education is the key to a functional society and as Thomas Jefferson said, education is needed to keep democracy alive. There should be no reason for separate but equal in the U.S. It does not create unity and encourages biases. It leads to fewer opportunities and less mobility in society. Separate but equal is not real, if it was equal it wouldn’t be separate.
