Schools Cannot Provide for the Common Good Without Equity
A free and thorough education is critical for maintaining our democracy as well as establishing a robust and healthy economy. It is essential for a vibrant and healthy nation. These factors have been driving forces behind the belief that public schools are a common good (Hussian, 2018). However, just providing access to public schools for all our students does not satisfy the common good. Only when we educate all students to high levels, do we fulfill the common good and protect and strengthen the future of our country.
The Oxford English Dictionary defines the phrase the common good as “the benefit or interest of all.” A free and thorough public education is a part of the common good in the United States. While education is not a part of our national constitution, the idea of it as a common good is nearly as old as our country. The idea that public education is critical for the survival of our democracy goes back to the early days of the United States.
Jefferson proposed, during the Revolutionary War, Bill 79: A Bill for the More General Diffusion of Knowledge based on the argument that a better educated populace would result in “public happiness…rendered by liberal education worthy to receive, and able to guard the sacred deposits of the rights and liberties of their fellow citizens” (Committee of Revisors, 1784). However, Jefferson was unable to get this bill passed at that time. When George Washington left the presidency, he gave recommendations for the future of the United States in his Farewell Address of 1796. He advised development of an “…institution for the general diffusion of knowledge. In proportion as the structure of a government gives force to public opinion, it is essential that public opinion should be enlightened” (paragraph 29). Public education became a fabric of our society as the various states began to establish common schools and systems of public education around the 1840s.
A system of completely free elementary schools available to all children was promoted as a means to improve economic opportunities and create a shared bond among the citizens of the United States. Horace Mann was central to the development of a public education system. Mann helped establish a state board of education for Massachusetts, secured tax funding for public schools, kept religions education separate from public schools, and established teacher-training colleges. The idea of a common system of education spread through New England and more slowly throughout the rest of the country. Mann’s idea of a common school was that school was open to all classes in order to ensure social and national unity (Massachusetts Board of Education, 1849).
Despite these lofty ideals, the reality of schools for many years in America was they did not serve all children. They primarily served able bodied white males. Over the years there have been many hard-fought battles to expand the group of children served by our schools as we inched closer and closer to truly serving all children. The first two hundred plus years of debate and development of a public education system in the United States saw a continuous focus on widening the net to include more and more children: not just the white males of privilege, but all children regardless of gender, race, economic status, disability, or language. The focus has been on providing access to school for all children.
As a nation we generally recognize the importance of all of our children being educated. We recognize the incredible damage our country would suffer if only some of our children are educated, both to democracy and to our economy. The National Center for Educational Statistics regularly tracks the economic differences between high school drops outs, high school graduates, and those who go on to earn technical certificates or college degrees. Their most recent report (McFarland, Cui, Holmes, & Wang, 2020) paints a very bleak pictures for those with only a minimal education.
We must recognize that it is more than a minimal education that provides for the common good. When we fail to educate all our students so that they master rigorous standards, we fail to provide for the common good and protect our country’s future. Only after mastering rigorous standards are our students ready to leave school and contribute to and strengthen our democracy and our economy. When we ensure a rigorous education of our own children, but deprive other students of a rigorous education, we fail to serve our common interest of a strong democracy and strong economy.
Equity in education, or doing whatever it takes to ensure all students master rigorous standards, is necessary to provide for the common good. When we fail to provide the additional resources it takes to educate all children to the highest level, including those living in poverty or with trauma, or with disabilities, or learning English as a second language, we fail to provide for the common good.
To ensure all students master rigorous standards will require our most marginalized students to receive additional resources. When we allow public schools to exist that are not staffed by highly qualified educators; who do not have the means to provide the social and mental health services their students need in order to learn; who do not have current technology, science labs, musical instruments, etc.; who cannot operate at times during the year due to lack of air conditioning, heat, or water; or cannot operate on an extended daily and yearly calendar to meet the needs of our most marginalized students, we are not providing equity for our students and we are not providing for the common good.
Our competitive nature makes us inclined to ensure our own children receive only the very best education while not worrying about the minimal education other children in marginalized communities receive or even blaming these children for their lessor education. However, if we want to continue to be the powerful country we have been, then our common interest as citizens is to provide every resource needed for each child to learn so that they are, regardless of life circumstances, educated to the highest level. The common good depends on us providing equity in our schools.
References:
Committee of Revisors, (1784). Report of the Committee of Revisors Appointed by the General Assembly of Virginia in MDCCLXXVI. Retrieved February 21, 2021 at https://www.loc.gov/exhibits/jefferson/images/vc64.jpg
Hussain, Waheed, (Spring 2018). The common good, The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy. URL: https://plato.standord,edu/archives/spr2018/entries/common-good/>
Massachusetts Board of Education, (1849.) Twelfth annual report of the Board of Education, together with the twelfth annual report of the Secretary of the Board. Retrieved February 21, 2021 at https://archives.lib.state.ma.us/handle/2452/204731)
McFarland, J., Cui, J., Holmes, J., and Wang, X. (2019). Trends in High School Dropout and Completion Rates in the United States: 2019 (NCES 2020-117). U.S. Department of Education. Washington, DC: National Center for Education Statistics. Retrieved 10/15/22 from https://nces.ed.gov/pubsearch.
Washington, G. (1796). President George Washington’s Farewell Address. Retrieved February 21, 2021 from https://www.ourdocuments.gov/doc.php?flash=false&doc=15&page=transcript#
This blog is written by Dr. GwenCarol Holmes, a long-time educator and passionate advocate for all students mastering rigorous standards.