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Taylor Bailey
Doctor Connie S. Douglas
UWRT 1101-037
3 September 2014
Equal Opportunity for Success.
Throughout history there has always been the debate about the role of education in
society and how to create the most of an experience for students that will help them reach their
futures withholding their full potential. I believe in three expressions that our nation should stand
by when discussing the shaping of our education system. Equality, opportunity, and success
comingle in a way that can achieve the ultimate experience children deserve. Equality needs to
be held throughout every school in order to create the right to a balanced peace, as well as fulfill
the first amendment. Once equality is attended to, opportunity gives way to lead those who
desire to advance do as they wish with the resources that can be provide. The success comes
from mixing equality with opportunity for the perfect situation for teachers to provide children
with the ability to achieve their educational goals.
Equality has virtually always been an issue in this country, let alone this world. Since
way before Columbus sailed the ocean blue and discovered the Western Hemispheres, there have
always been restrictions that restrain certain people from being able to have accessibility to
education and there have always been rules to follow through with that dont always grant
everyone with fair treatment. Inside of the general view of equality, there are those areas of
which stand out most and are constantly discussed or argued. Fortunately, our country of the
United States has surpassed from the race and/or gender eras that prevented said groups from fair

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treatment throughout the nation. Unfortunately to this day other countries or groups of people
still have restrictions. We have been a very blessed people to have been able to accept a land full
of such diversity of people and cultures. Even though our rights determine us all equal, some of
our people have trouble with educational equality. For example, students with disabilities that
range from small speech impairments to physical disabilities need extra care in order to be able
to maintain their positions academically on the level they deserve to be at. Another example of
equality issues in our education system is over family socio-economic status. Even though there
are divisions of cities and towns because of poor versus rich neighborhoods and communities, I
believe in making sure no one is left without fair rights to quality education. Equality amongst all
people in all communities leads to providing resources to the students in order for them to move
forward in their education.
Everyone deserves the opportunity to develop extra skills or to be given an extra boost of
help throughout their journey within education. When given quality resources to help students in
their learning, they able to gain more knowledge and experience from these opportunities than
they could ever imagine. Providing special programs, extra-curricular activities, and chances of
quality help can create huge impacts on the futures of the students. Some benefits towards
extracurricular activities, according to Joy Burgess, include: learning time-management and
prioritizing, getting involved in diverse interests, and learning about long term commitment.
These examples, along with several others help confirm that students can learn more skill to help
them in their education and future. Well-known and popular programs; such as, special education
classes create environments for students with disabilities to thrive in at their own pace. Clubs and
sports also help when it comes to interaction with social groups and situations. Sports help a lot
with team building and working together to solve the puzzles and win the games. Clubs give

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students freedoms that they might not have anywhere or any other time. There should be
opportunities available to every single student that goes through schooling and they deserve to be
treated equally within these situations so that all can reach their full potential.
Mashing fairness and equality together with opportunity can ultimately lead to the
number one focused outcome of education, success. No matter what one sets their mind on or
what they strive to achieve as a goal in education, they will always yearn for success. Randy
Pausch states If you want something bad enough, never give up; and take a boost when
offered. In the book How Children Succeed, Paul Tough examines a young girls journey in life
as well as with her education. She was from a very low-end community, where the majority of
students were living in terribly poor conditions and the children who attended school were never
expected to succeed past high school with all of the drop-outs. With a school that was given a
program that not only helped equalize her chances to learn, but gave her the opportunity to turn
her life around and start looking at a more promising future filled with her own success. Tough
comments on this story saying the profoundest sort of transformation: when a young person
manages to turn herself away from near-certain failure and begins to steer a course toward
success (48). I believe that every single person rightfully deserves their very own personal equal
opportunity for success.
As history and our population changes, we try hard to hold onto the basic principles that
underline our nation while at the same time responding to changing needs and realties
(Breitborde, and Swiniarski 6). Education itself will always continually grow as an important
necessity in our world. Just like in the movie The Book of Eli, the educated man holds extreme
amounts of power over those who were unfortunate to never have an experience with education.
In the future I would like to see more students able to reach higher than any other generation so

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that they become the most successful at what they each decide to further pursue in life. I would
like to see the eighty percent high school graduation rate grow much higher because of our
nations efforts to provide our students with the chance to reach high enough (Layton, Lyndsey).
Because of our constantly growing and changing nation, there needs to be a set guideline that we
can look to for shaping our foundation for education. Since our nation and people cant ever
settle on a fixed outline for our education system I hold my beliefs in equality, opportunity, and
success are the most reliable sources our country needs to trust in.

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Works Cited
Breiborde, Mary-Lou, and Swiniarski, Louise Boyle. Teaching on Principle and Promise: The
Foundations of Education. Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 2006. Print.
Burgess, Joy. Extracurricular School Activities and the Benefits. More4Kids. More4Kids Inc.,
2014. Web. 7 September 2014.
Layton, Lyndsey. National high school graduation rates at historic high, but disparities still
exists. The Washington Post: Education. 28 April 2014. Web. 7 September 2014.
Pausch, Randy. Really Achieving Your Childhood Dreams. Journeys. McConomy Auditorium,
Pittburgh. 18 Sept. Lecture.
Tough, Paul. How Children Succeed. New York: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2012. Print.
The Book of Eli. Dir. The Hughes Brothers. Perf. Denzel Washington, Gary Oldman, Kila Kunis,
Ray Stevenson, and Jennifer Beals. Alcon Entertainment and Silver Pictures, 2010. DVD.

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