Reading Reaction/Class Reaction

"Public schools are one of the few American institutions that try to take equality seriously." (T&C 29)

In reading about educational reform and the various types that America's public education system has undergone in the past century, it seems like an oxymoron as well as a vicious cycle. With reforms, ideally, we want equal education for every student. However, when students are finishing high school they are individually vying for the best education possible in colleges. Students must have the best grades and standardized test scores, especially this day in age, in order to achieve the "best" higher education. Tyack and Cuban talk about "two competing elements of ideology, one that elevates liberty and promotes free market, and the other that elevates equality and promotes participatory politics" (54). The essence of American society is competition, and this sentiment echoes in public education. We vocalize equality, but promote individual competition. Parents want their children to go to the best schools with the best teachers in order to get the highest grades and get into the best colleges. Many parents will lobby for reform until policies are changed to ensure the best possible education for their child, and I can imagine that the quality of other children's education does not cross their mind. Even in our higher education, though it is not free, there is inequality in the quality of education. Harvard trumps the University of South Carolina just like Fort Mill High School trumps West Charlotte. It seems as though we cannot shake the caste system, or hierarchy, that exists in education. Tyack and Cuban say, "People may favor giving all children a fair chance, but at the same time they want their children to succeed in the competition for social and economic advantage" (29). With good intentions we are trying to take equality seriously, but we have not found a reform that allows equality to truly exist in education.