Fairness and Equality

What's interesting is that every time I attend a meeting at our kids' school I end up with a topic to write about on this blog. The teachers in this meeting were debating the charter bylaws wherein they are mandated to restrict their fund raising efforts to the pursuit of grants and these monies are to be shared with all students in the school equally. Sounds warm and fuzzy; doesn't it.
Well not so fast! What this means is that as there are two classes for each grade if one class receives special funding for a certain event they would not be able to attend that event unless the other class was able to go as well. The parents kept referring to this as "fairness". I heard a lot of "that wouldn't be fair". I don't believe people really think about fairness at all.
Equality is defined by Webster's Dictionary as "a state of being equal" or "an equation with equal properties".
Fairness on the other hand is defined as "being just, reasonable, unbiased or impartial".
Is it "fair" to deny one student or class because of inequality? Karl Marx once said "From each according to his ability, to each according to his need". Is this then the de facto working paradigm within our school system? Is it fair to take from those who are able to produce only to give to those who have the greatest need? What about the needs of those who worked so hard to produce? Where are they rewarded for their travails? The teacher is responsible for the instruction of his or her students. The teacher should be able to receive gifts of funds from any source regardless of the intent behind the gift and should have the freedom to use this gift according to their judgment for the betterment of their class. Now, to answer my own question stated earlier: It is fair to allow one class to receive a gift of money and then to use that money to go on a field trip even though the other fifth grade class will not be able to go as well. This is "fair" but it is not equal. Equality at the expense of others is not fair.

Common Sense

Black History Month. Miss Black America. The United Negro College Fund. The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People. What do all of these things have in common? Well other than being inherently racist they smack in the face of Dr. Martin Luther King's vision of a future where a person is judged NOT by the color of their skin but by the content of their character.

An argument can be made that these organizations and events are the result of racist oppression against people of color over the past centuries. It is an historical fact that people suffered all throughout history. Suffering, however, is not an affliction known only to those of color. Racism is alive and well today and is perpetrated when anyone judges another based on their race or color. White people do not have a franchise on racism. White farmers in Africa have been disposed of their land, raped mutilated and murdered simply because they are white. For that matter, Arabs routinely subjugate Asians for manual labor and Caucasians for the sex trade in Dubai.

Growing up in California I learned of Dr. Kings vision and thought "well duh?!". It made sense to me. When competing for anything in life, professional or otherwise, one should always be judged on their individual merit and aptitude. So, like Dr. King I am for equal rights to all and special rights to none.