Haungs: Equal Opportunity

Equal opportunity is a phrase that has been thrown around since the days of the civil rights and women’s liberation movements. African-Americans and women throughout the nation proclaimed that every single person deserves equal rights and opportunities as written in the Declaration of Independence. “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal.” Even though both movements have come and gone, has this nation achieved absolute equal opportunity? Under the law, maybe so. But in practice, not exactly.

In my humble opinion, the most pressing issue that this nation faces is in its education reform. We can bark at each other from across the floor of the House or the Senate, but if education falls by the wayside in the midst of all this bickering, the United States won’t have any future generations educated enough to maintain a stable nation. Too many kids in this country fall victim to bad education, and it doesn’t only harm them, but it also negatively affects America in the long run.

Equal opportunity does not simply cover the passage of laws saying that no one person can be denied education or work based on race, gender, sexual orientation or any other factor that does not have anything to do with the merit of the individual. While these laws have been set in place for some time now, even after W. Bush’s “No Child Left Behind Act,” there are still schooling systems in inner cities, rural areas and even some suburban areas that do not meet par by a long shot.

In those areas where education is terrible, not only are kids not receiving a proper education and teachers losing faith in their students, but these students aren’t going to college and are left with minimum wage jobs. These kids aren’t being afforded the same opportunities that you and I have had our entire lives, and it’s a damn shame. So many of these people could go on to do great things, and could help reshape this world, but without a decent education, all of that slips beneath them.

And, yes, I know, some of these students chose not to even go to school, get caught up in the wrong scene and are the products of bad home lives, but again, this nation doesn’t offer the resources for alternative living conditions. There simply aren’t enough halfway houses or enough education on how to join a halfway house for everyone who has the need to take advantage of them. It’s sad to realize that those who were born to a bad life are for the most part stuck in that life forever. No way out, no education to take them to the next level. We hear a lot about athletes and musicians who make it out of bad neighborhoods, but where does that leave the kid who wants to grow up to be a businessman? Because he doesn’t possess exceptional sport or music talent, he’s screwed?

Education is the very foundation of everything in this entire world. Not one single thing is done without learning how to do it first. Social change won’t ever come about without the proper education on the issues, nor will our economy change without learning how to fix it, nor will this nation survive without educated future generations. Never forget the kid in the projects who wants to learn just as much as you. Your spot at Boston University could be his, but he’d never know it.