7 -- Sameness as Fairness

Sameness as Fairness is the idea that equality means that everyone gets the same educational instruction, without regard for their individual needs. It is one of those things that sounds good and fair until you scratch the surface. It's another neoliberal idea of running public services like a business, that is, "reform that bring the business of eficiency, accountability, quality, and choice to establish the educational agenda." (Gutierrez 2007, 109). This is the principle behind the No Child Left Behind Act. It's a popular idea among politicians, but it leaves many out in the cold.

Fairness is not that everyone gets the same educational methods, it should mean that everyone gets the same equality of education, which requires methods tailored to the individual.

My liberal point of view usually leads me towards a belief that the government has a role to play in providing basic services to people, such as health care. But when it comes to education, federal control scares the hell out of me, because it leads to sameness as fairness policies. The federal government could never hope to meet the individual needs of students because the various states are too different. The last thing in the world I want is people from Alabama having a say in how children are educated in New York. New York certainly has its problems, and is guilty of relying on high stakes tests and confiningly tight content standards, but New York is a fairly liberal state and it is worse other places.

New York is a diverse state as well, and Albany fails to provide the individualized education that each student deserves. So maybe more control should be given to school districts, who better know their communities and student body, and can tailor curriculum better. But this is still sameness as fairness, because studentshave unique and individual needs.

Only teachers are at the ground level where they can make sure every individual student gets the education he or she needs. Sameness is not fairness, fairness is that everyone gets the education, whatever means they require. Only teachers are in a position to provide this.