The Continuing Imperative For Educational Equity
Will the war against terrorism permanently deflect America's resources from democratic education reform?
Many people are concerned that the war against terrorism may permanently deflect America's resources and political will from democratic education reform. Recent trends in cases on fiscal equity and education adequacy, however, effectively counter this pessimism, and confirm the strong connection between public education and a flourishing democracy. Increasingly, courts are defining the constitutional standard for education in terms of the skills and knowledge students need for effective civic engagement. These rulings reflect a continuing and accelerating historical trend, which firmly indicates that equal educational opportunity for all students is one of our nation's critical core democratic values.
In its famous 1954 decision in Brown v. Board of Education , the U.S. Supreme Court emphasized "the importance of education to our democratic society." After noting that education is "perhaps the most important function of state and local governments," the court concluded: "It is doubtful that any child may reasonably be expected to succeed in life if he is denied the opportunity of an education." Accordingly, the court held that each state, in providing the opportunity for education, must make it available "to all on equal terms."
The Supreme Court's equation of education and democracy was based both on its thorough examination of the development of public education in 19th-century America and on a recognition of the enhanced significance of education in contemporary times. Despite the court's strong stance in Brown , its vision of equal educational opportunity is still, of course, far from being realized. Over 70 percent of African-American and Latino public school students in the United States currently attend predominantly minority schools. Moreover, the inner-city schools attended by most of these minority students receive substantially less funding and have fewer qualified teachers, larger classes, and vastly inferior facilities than schools attended by more affluent white students...
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