What ALL Children Deserve

Whatever you can do, or dream you can, begin it. Boldness has genius, power, and magic in it.

- Johann Wolfgan von Goethe

We don't - as a society - talk about boldness much with our children - our future - these days.

Ask any group of elementary-aged students in this country today about what they learn in school, and they can probably tell you a bit about accountability, and standardized testing, and following the rules (although maybe not in those exact terms). And if the children happen to attend one of the more underserved, impoverished schools in this country, they are probably even less likely than more privledged children to talk about the ways in which their schooling fosters ideals of boldness, and dreams, and power, and genius.

It's not that students at poorer schools don't believe they deserve to be taught these things, or even that the teachers, parents, and administrators don't believe it. Rather, it's that we have created an educational and societal system with some unspoken rules - rules about preserving what creativity and empowerment we do infuse in our schools to those with the most privledge, the higher test scores, the larger graduation rates.

There are exceptions to these rules all around us, of course. Some of the greatest teachers, students, and programs I've ever seen are in schools that have been designated high-poverty and low-performing. But, more often than not, wealthy children in wealthy schools are more likely to see the ideals expoused by Goethe infused into their educations.

And this kind of disparity, this kind of injustice, is what we're here to write about. And struggle with. And debate. And, hopefully, get to the other side of. Because this is the thing. ALL children deserve the opportunities that we give to SOME children. Period. That's educational justice. That's what we believe.