Human Dignity and Participation: A Right to Equal Education

Essay by Roderic976University, Bachelor'sA+, January 2005

download word file, 13 pages 5.0

In a city like Chicago, the name Giordano's is synonymous with good pizza. It is well known that you will not find someone who has never heard of it, or will you? I did find someone that had never heard of Giordano's. She is 12 years old, in the fifth grade, and comes from the Cabrini Green neighborhood. I was shocked at first, but then I came to realize the world she was from was not the one I was from. I met her while tutoring at Fourth Presbyterian Church. Like many marginalized people, she is the victim of a disadvantaged neighborhood where educational resources are next to none. This is a huge problem in the United States of America where educational opportunities should be bountiful and even more so, a basic right as a U. S. citizen.

For children in Cabrini Green, the reality is that they will probably never leave the way of life they were born into.

As an educated scholar at a major university, I will describe how the Catholic social teaching supports the right for everyone to have an equal education. I will also use Wilson and Hobgood's critiques and suggestions and apply to them to this specific concern. Lastly, I will explain how my own ideas must be critiqued and what further things must be considered to fully provide a solid analysis of this important issue.

The neighborhood public schools that serve Cabrini Green and Henry Horner homes children are made up of the most marginalized populations in the city of Chicago. Despite the fact that education is available and free to everyone in the United States of America, it is not available by the standards of distributive justice. Public education serves to provide the necessary resources only to those communities that can...