People the world over agree that being a nation requires making sure every child attends school. Almost all of the over 180 countries in the world include education as a constitutional right for all citizens (The Atlantic, 11/28/18). Among the few countries that do not include education in their constitution, all but one has established the right to education in another way – by ratifying the U.N. declaration on universal human rights. This document makes it clear that education is among the most important of our rights (see “Universal Declaration of Human Rights and These United States,” on this web site, April, 2019).

The United States is the only country that does not have education firmly fixed as a guaranteed right for all children. It is not mentioned in our Constitution.  Further, we have failed to ratify the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (1948). We have yet to ratify the U.N. Convention on the Rights of the Child (1989).

These facts speak volumes about why we lag behind so many other countries in addressing poverty, child welfare, and infrastructure improvements. If we don’t care enough about our children to ensure that they are well-educated and well cared for, then who will lead the country in the next generation? The rich? Those who could afford private schools? How can we make reasoned, informed decisions about what this country needs?

Many people thought that equality in education was all settled by the 1954 Supreme Court decision, Brown vs. Board of Education. That case ruled that segregated schools were by no means providing equal education to black children. Schools attended by black students were consistently under-funded, with inadequate resources, staff, and facilities. However, the desegregation of schools begun in that era continues to be sketchy, with many of the poorest districts in our nation predominantly brown or black.

In the intervening years, many cases have been brought to the Supreme Court to argue that not all of our students have access to an equal education. The Court has replied  that as long as states provide free public education, they have to offer that education to every child in the state. The Court has not ruled that disparities between the educational standards of schools in wealthy districts versus schools in poor districts affect any child’s rights, since the right to education is not specified in the Constitution.

Meanwhile, the level of educational inadequacy has increased in districts all across the country where states have cut school funding. Some of the poorest schools are inner city; others are rural poor. The situation has become so untenable in Rhode Island, Mississippi, and Michigan, that students in those states are suing the federal government for promoting illiteracy and making education a sham by graduating students who have had no access to an adequate school curriculum (The Conversation, 12/7/18).

We currently have a Secretary of Education who tried to make major funding cuts to America’s poor and geographically isolated schools this past week (Salon, 3/2/2020).  Fortunately, state education officials and lawmakers immediately saw the implications of the new rules and forced her to restore those funds. We cannot rely like this on the inefficiencies of certain groups fighting back against certain individual rules affecting certain cases. We need  legislation that will guarantee  a high standard of education for every child, everywhere in this country.

The argument for equality in education rests on the need for an educated citizenry. Our founders established this as a country where the citizens would rule themselves, without needing the trappings of wealth, royalty or dictators to making decisions for them. However, the founders recognized that public education was necessary in order for such a government to work. Everyone needed to be capable of reading and thinking about the issues of the day in order to participate in the democracy.

The founders never imagined a propaganda machine like Fox News, or all of the disinformation available on the web, TV, and radio talk show. The voices of those who have knowledge and experience, those who bring reason to bear on the issues, are nearly drowned out by those who yell at us – about their beliefs, their fears, their own egocentric and baseless ideas.

The current cases before the Supreme Court argue that the lack of an adequate education leaves students without the fundamental knowledge required to fulfill their civic duties – such as voting and serving on a jury (Christian Science Monitor, 12/12/19). Poor or inadequate education does not prepare citizens for the monumental task of determining the merits and faults of each news source available these days. Keep your eye on the Rhode Island case in particular, where students are arguing that a course in civics is necessary to prepare them for participation in our democracy.

The legal arguments now center on the inequalities that we create among the adult population if some understand civic duties and some do not. When some school systems fail their students, those students do not have the tools to become fully functioning members of society.

I would argue that poor and inadequate education also leaves students defenseless against the propaganda machines, the deceptions of the wealthy and powerful, and the politics of greed and corruption.

Ignorance is not bliss. Ignorance is a terrifying path to servitude.