Unrealized Integration and a Reimagination of Education as a Fundamental Right to Redress Historical Wrongs

• In Event: Closing Educational Opportunity Gaps: Exploring a Federal Right to Education

Abstract

Objectives
In my presentation, I will argue that the principle of education-as-a-fundamental-right should be a core component of national, state, and local policies to address historical wrongs against racially minoritized communities and to eradicate opportunity gaps and to promote upward mobility among socioeconomically disadvantaged groups.

Perspectives/Theoretical Framework
While school attendance is compulsory in all fifty states, notably education is not recognized as a federal fundamental right. Consequently, funding inequalities across the thousands of U.S. school districts are allowed to persist. Racially minoritized students attend disproportionately under-resourced schools in predominantly low-income, urban districts, and similarly, many poor and working-class white students encounter meager educational resources in rural areas and small towns. In April 2020, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 6th Circuit opened the door to the possibility of educational advocacy achieving a "holy grail" by ruling in favor of the fundamental right to a basic education, though the nation's highest court has yet to recognize access to an adequate education as a constitutional right (Strauss, 2020).

Methods/Data Sources
Scores of studies and decades of research from social scientists across multiple disciplines show that creating an equitable chance of success for most American learners requires addressing the core needs of children and families. This includes providing livable wages for families, affordable housing, healthcare, and ensuring high-quality teaching and learning in culturally rich and inclusive schools. None of these factors alone are sufficient to reduce the vast racial, ethnic, and socioeconomic inequalities present today. Further, the palpable racial and political divisions in the United States necessitate a meaningful and radical reimagining of schools and their purposes.

Results
In my research, I have examined the overlap between tangible and intangible measures of racial and class inequality in education and society. While material conditions are valuable in identifying overall inequality, I argue that educational researchers and practitioners must also pay attention to intangible measures as well. These include cultural tools and codes embedded in hierarchical, race-, class-, and even gender-inflected meanings in school practices, as well as stereotypes, biases, and enduring forms of exclusion that contribute to the persistence of inequality and marginalization. Using a multidimensional framework, encompassing macro-, meso-, and micro-level analyses of inequality, I will discuss how various educational approaches have led to "unrealized integration" in schools that, arguably, perpetuate educational opportunity gaps. Everyday school practices of exclusion, social closure, and anti-equity cultural logics have fostered the intergenerational perpetuation of various social inequalities. To conclude, I will offer recommendations for practice and policy directions aimed at ameliorating these educational conditions.

Significance
This paper presents a comprehensive exploration of the principle of education-as-a-fundamental- right as a critical component in addressing historical injustices against racially minoritized communities and eradicating opportunity gaps among socioeconomically disadvantaged groups. By advocating for the recognition of education as a fundamental right at the national, state, and local levels, the study highlights the potential for transformative policy changes to promote upward mobility and equitable access to quality education.

Author

• Prudence L. Carter, Brown University