Equal representation, as applied to members of minority students
or faculty, ethnic groups, sexes or sexual preferences, and the
handicapped, introduces a false sense of democracy in education.
It takes away the very edge of their specific chances from the
people it pretends to help and encourage. Instead of
acknowledging distinctions, expectations of equal representation
suggest that the more melting in the pot, the better for
society, regardless of whether the result is uniform mediocrity
or distributed excellence. Actually the opposite is true: equal
opportunity should be used in order to preserve distinctive
qualities and bring them to fruition.
As a unified requirement, literacy imparts a sense of conformity
and standardization appropriate to the pragmatic framework that
made standardized education necessary. Numerous alternative
means of expression and communication, for which education has
only a deaf ear, facilitate the multiplication of choices. In a
world confronted with needs well beyond those of survival, this
is a source of higher efficiency. The necessary effort to
individualize education cannot, however, take place unless the
inalienable right to study and work for one's own path to
self-improvement is not respected to the same extent as liberty
and equality are.
The globality of human praxis is not a scenario invented by some
entrepreneur. It is the reflection of the scale at which
population growth, shared resources, and choices heading to new
levels of efficiency become critical.
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