One of most important ethical reasons that indicate why the issue of inequality in education is so important, is that people who are subjected to a lesser quality of education simply because of their income levels or skin color, will be more likely to endure a life of hardship and poverty. Living in poverty makes people more susceptible to illness because they cannot afford proper treatment, which is therefore harmful. Not receiving quality education is also harmful to the student because they “do not benefit from learning that is vital to their intellectual and social development,” (Humanium.org). Poor social development can lead to mental health issues as well because they do not develop critical coping mechanisms to combat mental health issues. This is a consequentialist moral argument because the action of not allowing certain students to receive quality education directly results in the negative consequence of their harm. This harm being a life of endured stress and poverty which can lead to poor health. Any type of harm to an individual is considered to be unethical. In order to avoid causing harm to any individual, Americans must not partake in the first action of discriminating against students of color and low income from obtaining equal education as wealthy white students. For example, in poor neighborhoods of Connecticut, the education quality of students in those neighborhoods varies so much from the richest neighborhoods in the state. The poorer “districts tend to have more students in need of extra help, and yet they have fewer guidance counselors, tutors, and psychologists, lower-paid teachers, more dilapidated facilities and bigger class sizes than wealthier districts,” (Semuels, 2016). The poor quality of the schools directly leads to the disadvantages of the poor students’ economic successes after their schooling. Therefore, not giving equal attention to schools in poor districts is unethical because it does not abide by the ideology of universalism that everyone is equally and morally important. It also gives priorities to children who were born into a wealthy lifestyle to become even more wealthy later in life because “education is paid for with the amount of money available in a district, which doesn’t necessarily equal the amount of money required to adequately teach students,” who come from poorer districts (Semuels, 2016).
References:
Semuels, A. (2016, August 25). Good School, Rich School; Bad School, Poor School. Retrieved
April 15, 2018,
