In 2012, the Accepting Schools Act was passed, its mission was to “provide safe, inclusive, and accepting learning environments in which every student can succeed” (“Ontario’s Equity and Inclusive Education Strategy,” 2012, p. 2). The idea behind this amendment to the Education Act is the Canadian population’s support of multiculturalism and all other diverse identities and attributes, from disability to gender. The sentiment behind this act is encouraging in the development of social justice and equality in education, however it fails to deal with one issue that separates schools in our society, and that is funding. There is an ever widening gap between the type of education low income and high income children are able to accesses, so much
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The act itself uses the word equity, and not equality. Equity is “the state or quality of being just and fair” (dictionary.search.yahoo.com, n.d.) where equality is “the state or quality of being equal” (dictionary.search.yahoo.com, n.d.) yet when public funding is equal across schools, not equitable, therefore creating disconnect between Canadian ideals and Canadian action. The public funding of private schools is creating a system an unjust system that widens the gap between the rich and the …show more content…
But these are the outliers, they are the exceptions to the rule, “the general case is that poor people stay poor and that teachers and schools serving impoverished youth do not often succeed in changing the life chances for their students” (Berliner, 2013, p. 1). The cycle of poverty can be detrimental and inescapable, but education is meant to be the answer – the out from the cycle, however that is not often the result. Unfortunately, many of these students who were born into these disadvantaged circumstances often are also visible minorities and/or recent immigrants (Berliner, 2013, p.3) which means that for many students there is a double disadvantage in education. The Accepting Schools Act addresses part of the issue, but in a society that is increasingly supportive towards all people, but students need more. A safe space is essential to learning, but financial support is also part of success in schools. Inequality still is present. For example, from Stacking the Deck, “a working-class Black or Aboriginal woman is often severely oppressed in a
The act itself uses the word equity, and not equality. Equity is “the state or quality of being just and fair” (dictionary.search.yahoo.com, n.d.) where equality is “the state or quality of being equal” (dictionary.search.yahoo.com, n.d.) yet when public funding is equal across schools, not equitable, therefore creating disconnect between Canadian ideals and Canadian action. The public funding of private schools is creating a system an unjust system that widens the gap between the rich and the …show more content…
But these are the outliers, they are the exceptions to the rule, “the general case is that poor people stay poor and that teachers and schools serving impoverished youth do not often succeed in changing the life chances for their students” (Berliner, 2013, p. 1). The cycle of poverty can be detrimental and inescapable, but education is meant to be the answer – the out from the cycle, however that is not often the result. Unfortunately, many of these students who were born into these disadvantaged circumstances often are also visible minorities and/or recent immigrants (Berliner, 2013, p.3) which means that for many students there is a double disadvantage in education. The Accepting Schools Act addresses part of the issue, but in a society that is increasingly supportive towards all people, but students need more. A safe space is essential to learning, but financial support is also part of success in schools. Inequality still is present. For example, from Stacking the Deck, “a working-class Black or Aboriginal woman is often severely oppressed in a