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Essay on Achieving equality of educational opportunity
The United States shows clearly the impact of the class structure in society upon the concept of educational opportunity in that society. In the United States, the absence of educational opportunity for blacks, minority student, student At-Risk, students of Special Education and Gifted etc. arose from the caste and feudal structure of the largely pastoral society.
The idea of differentiated educational opportunity, implicit in the Education Act of 1870, seems to derive from dual needs: the needs arising from industrialization for a basic education for the labor force, and the interests of parents in having one's own child receive a good education. The middle classes could meet both these needs by providing a free system for the children of laboring classes, and a tuition system (which soon came to be supplemented by state grants) for their own. The long survival of this differentiated system depended not only on the historical fact that the voluntary schools existed before a public system came into existence but on the fact that it allows both of these needs to be met: the community's collective need for a trained labor force, and the middle-class individual's interest in a better education for his own child. (Spring, Joel., 1991).
In the United States, nearly from the beginning, the concept of educational opportunity had a special meaning which focused on equality. This meaning included the following elements:
Providing a free education up to a given level which constituted the principal entry point to the labor force.
Providing a common curriculum for all children, regardless of background.
Partly by design and partly because of low population density, providing that children from diverse backgrounds attend the same school.
Providing equality within a given locality, since local taxes provided the source of support for schools.
This conception of equality of opportunity is still held by many persons..........
