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The History of Inequality in Education and the Question of Equality Versus Adequacy

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The History of Inequality in Education and the Question of Equality Versus Adequacy University of Central Florida STARS Honors Undergraduate Theses UCF Theses and Dissertations 2016 The History of Inequality in Education and the Question of Equality Versus Adequacy Diana Carol Dominguez University of Central Florida Part of the Civil Law Commons, Civil Rights and Discrimination Commons, Educational Methods Commons, Education Law Commons, Ethics and Political Philosophy Commons, Legal Commons, Political History Commons, Social History Commons, and the United States History Commons Find similar works at: https://stars.library.ucf.edu/honorstheses University of Central Florida Libraries http://library.ucf.edu This Open Access is brought to you for free and open access by the UCF Theses and Dissertations at STARS. It has been accepted for inclusion in Honors Undergraduate Theses by an authorized administrator of STARS. For more information, please contact [email protected]. Recommended Citation Dominguez, Diana Carol, "The History of Inequality in Education and the Question of Equality Versus Adequacy" (2016). Honors Undergraduate Theses. 143. https://stars.library.ucf.edu/honorstheses/143 THE HISTORY OF INEQUALITY IN EDUCATION AND THE QUESTION OF EQUALITY VERSUS ADEQUACY by DIANA C. DOMINGUEZ A thesis submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the Honors in the Major Program in Philosophy in the College of Arts and Humanities and in the Burnett Honors College at the University of Central Florida Orlando, Florida Fall Term, 2016 Thesis Chair: Dr. Nancy A. Stanlick ABSTRACT Although the U.S. Constitution espouses equality, it clearly is not practiced in all aspects of life with education being a significant outlier. In the Declaration of Independence, Thomas Jefferson wrote about inalienable rights to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. These two theories are related to education through educational adequacy and equality. Sufficientarianism, or educational adequacy, says that what is important is that everyone has “good enough” educational opportunities, but not the same ones. Egalitarianism, or educational equality, says that there is an intrinsic value in having the same educational opportunities and only having good enough opportunities misses something important, which causes problems for those who have not had the same opportunities. I will argue that the latter theory of egalitarianism, or educational equality is a better approach to the education system in America than sufficientarianism because every child deserves an excellent education and equal access to opportunities regardless of irrelevant factors. i DEDICATION First and foremost, to the educators who work endlessly to better the education system to provide better opportunities for students, and also to the students who use education as a tool to create a better life for themselves and others. For my mentor, Nancy A Stanlick., and my committee members, Robert Cassanello, and Jonathan Beever, for the guidance, advice, and encouragement. For my fathers, Patrick, for being my greatest supporter and giving me unconditional love and support, and Esteban, for your love and the sacrifices you made to give me the tools to succeed. And most importantly for my mother, Delly. A strong woman who has always given me the love, confidence, and strength to pursue my dreams, no matter how big they are. You are my best friend, and I will always cherish having you in my life. ii TABLE OF CONTENTS INTRODUCTION .......................................................................................................................... 1 HISTORICAL IMPLICATIONS ................................................................................................... 3 The U.S. Education System Prior to Brown v. Board of Education Ruling ....................... 3 Creation and Upkeep of Colonial Native American Schools.................................. 3 “Separate, but Equal” Institutions become Legalized ........................................... 9 The U.S. Education System for Minority Students after the Brown v. Board of Education Ruling ................................................................................................................................ 17 Changes in the System and The Pursuit of Equality ............................................. 17 The Gradual Shift towards Adequacy instead of Equality: How Does the Current System Leave our Children? ................................................................................. 19 RESULT OF OUR CURRENT SYSTEM & SOLUTION .......................................................... 22 How History Has Shaped Us Today: .................................................................... 22 What is the Current Approach Toward Inequality in Education and Opportunity? ............................................................................................................................... 24 Why Educational Equality over Educational Adequacy? ..................................... 26 The Effects ............................................................................................................. 32 CONCLUSION ............................................................................................................................. 37 REFERENCES ............................................................................................................................. 43 iii INTRODUCTION Although the U.S. Constitution espouses equality, it clearly is not practiced in all aspects of life with education being a significant outlier. In the Declaration of Independence, Thomas Jefferson wrote about inalienable rights to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. In reality, the inalienable rights were at the time and for many years after available only to free, white males, which engrained a sense of privilege and superiority into our national male identity. Today, there is a vast inequality in educational outcome in America, and this is a problem because many people consider education to be a means to improve their social and economic status and to enhance the quality of their lives. Depending on their race, students may experience a relative advantage or disadvantage later in their lives. For this reason, I place significant emphasis on the historical disadvantages minority racial groups have experienced in America. The result of inequality in the quality of education that certain racial groups have received suggests that the inequality in outcome is due to the inequality in opportunities that are available to them. In the sections that follow I will look at the causes of inequality in educational opportunity in order to put forth a framework for an ethical approach towards education. The framework approach will take a closer look at the philosophical theories that are used to support two approaches towards education: educational adequacy and educational equality. The philosophical theories that that are used in support of both approaches are sufficientarianism and egalitarianism. These two theories are related to education through educational adequacy and equality. Sufficientarianism, or educational adequacy, says that what is important is that everyone has “good enough” educational opportunities, but not the same ones. In this theory, 1 equality is not intrinsically valuable, or good in itself, but has the possibility of being instrumentally valuable for another purpose. It places importance on everyone having a sufficient amount or enough of some good or opportunity, but not an equal amount. Egalitarianism, or educational equality, says that there is an intrinsic value in having the same educational opportunities and only having good enough opportunities misses something important, which causes problems for those who have not had the same opportunities. I will argue that the latter theory of egalitarianism, or educational equality is a better approach to the education system in America than sufficientarianism, or educational adequacy. In the past, our education system used the educational equality system, which closed disparities that were created before the landmark cases like Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka. However, in the late 1900s the shift towards educational adequacy began to occur and the result was a wide gap in educational opportunities for disadvantaged minority students. Movements such as the Civil Rights Movements of 1964, and court cases that were meant to end inequality and segregation in public policy began to inadvertently affect education. The changes that occurred in the education system after these developments have had lasting effects that can be seen today. Today, they are seen in the wake of the quality of education that minority students receive through issues like median income, employment level, and educational attainment of students. 2 HISTORICAL IMPLICATIONS In order for us to decide which approach could fix or alleviate the problems that exist in the U.S. Education System, we have to look critically at its history. The historical aspect of the education system will help us explain why it is structured the way it is today, and what changes can be made to create a better quality of education for all students. This section of the thesis will look at the causal contributions of the education system in two subsections. The first subsection will look at the education system for minority students in the United States before the Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka ruling, and the second subsection will look at how the education system changed after
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