.2 Equity of Results

We also need equity of results. That's the third kind of equity. Not to say that everyone should go on to college, which would be one result, but rather equity of results in terms of everybody getting as much education as will benefit them. Notice the term equity rather than the term equality. Note also that Dr. Allen is opposed to equality in education. Equality is first of all a bad idea, it is impossible to achieve and it is undesirable. We are not all the same and depending on one's special talents, abilities, and interests one would have different needs. So equity is providing for everybody what they need and what they can profit from not giving everybody an equal dose. In my opinion the way we fund education is wrong. About half of the funding comes from the state and the other half from the local community. The half from the local community comes from property taxes. I would like to see a vast majority of the funding come from the federal government. That is the only way to really make it equitable and the argument for that is very simply that the American population is very mobile (we'll talk about that issue on its own later.) But with that mobility if a kid comes from Mississippi who is poorly educated, in Virginia we have to pick up the pieces or the other way around whichever it is. We have that interdependence of population. I would argue that the funding should be federal. But equity of results would be that every kid would get the results that they needed. Now we really have some attempt at the equity of results in terms of recognizing for example, in Special Ed it is going to take more resources to educate Special Ed kids to the same level of other kids. For my purposes I would like to see every kid treated as a Special Ed kid and give every kid the resources they need to educate them to the level that they can benefit from. If you gave the bilingual kid more intensive education at the kindergarten and first grade levels, then that bilingual kid would have a better shot at medical school later on. If the public purse is going to subsidize medical school, then I would like to make sure that everybody had an equal shot at it, which at present time is definitely not the case.


What is the difference between equity and equality in education?

Mr. Holtslander is teaching an inclusion class of 25 first-graders. He has five special education students in his class that he is responsible for effectively and smoothly including with the rest of the class in all activities and lessons. How can Mr. Holtslander ensure that all of the students understand the lessons without having to take extra time away from the students without disabilities in order to teach the minority of students in the class that have disabilities?
What questions do you now have about what you just read?