*The capability to an education*
One thing we were talking about last Friday was the capability of receiving an education. A few questions asked were would we be less human without one and how effective is our education system? When we were discussing this it made me think of the movie Pursuit of Happyness. In the movie Will Smith tells his son to never let anyone tell him he can't be something he wants to be. I feel an education is important but it is one's decision whether to receive it. In another part of the movie Will Smith is walking down the street and sees people walk out of a stock brokerage building and they look happy and wealthy. He asks how he can get a job there and the guy says you have to be good with people and numbers. He then goes on to apply and completes a long drawn out process to receive the job. However, my point here is the highest education he had was his high school diploma. He was a smart man but he didn't have the college degree to show it. Therefore, I think people can do what they want with their life with or without an education, but they should definitely have the "capability" to receive a good education. It is up to them however, to take that opportunity. If someone wants to be something or achieve a certain goal all they really need in the mind frame to do so.
*Justice*
Laura asked what every one's definition of justice was so I thought I would share what I think it is. I think justice is everyone having the right to live a good life with all the basic needs and being able to do as they please as long as it is obeying the laws made by the government. If one chooses to work harder so they can have the material things as well they should be free to do so. I also feel the government should allow people their freedom but as the same time keep the area safe. If one breaks a law they should be punished but the punishment should be equivalent to the crime committed.
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One response I would make to Nussbaum’s classification of an education is that it is probably too limited to be applicable to different countries and situations. Yes, in America, an education is usually thought of as at least an exposure to basic literacy, math, and science, but not all of the suggested education is necessarily useful to everyone. For example, a town of people who strictly make clothing for a living might not ever use the knowledge of science, of chemistry or biology or astronomy. These people might not even teach these subjects in school. In this way, they could eliminate the capability for learning about science and still maintain the fullest life in that town.
There is another way to look at Nussbaum’s capability of education. In our class discussion, we assumed that literacy and the studies of math and science refer to the high level of teaching offered today. But to take it with a different meaning, literacy could mean the learning of tribal stories in a culture with no written language, mathematics could mean keeping a pile of rocks representing the number of sheep one ones in a culture with no addition or subtraction, and science could mean the knowledge of which berries are good to eat and which are poisonous in a culture with no chemistry or analysis of plants. In this way, by taking the lowest meaning of each of these terms, it is possible to expand Nussbaum’s capability to a thing bound by culture and thus attainable in different situations.
Adding to the discussion of the definition of justice, I believe that it can be summed up fairly briefly. A just society, in my mind, will give its entire population, no matter race, religion, gender, nor age, a fair and equal chance to accomplish the necessary tasks to become both a wealthy and healthy (physically and mentally) person. Wealth and health are both ambiguous terms that, depending on the person, can have various meanings. In her piece, Nussbaum lists the “Central Human Functional Capabilities” which can give us a general background of what dictates the necessary qualities of social justice, and can give us a better idea of the terms wealth and health. Through her ten capabilities, she suggests that it is the ability to pursue these functions that determines a just society. I believe the capability to carry these functions out, thus having the chance to live a wealthy and healthy life, creates a just society. Consequently, my definition of justice is a just society, in which every person has the ability to lead a successful life.
My whole life I attended public school in a large affluent suburb of Dayton. I always knew I was fortunate to go to a school district that offered a lot of opportunities, but I also took it for granted. Last semester I was a tutor at a Toledo elementary school through the Literacy Serve and Learn program here at BG. My experiences at that school opened my eyes to the injustice in our education system today. It was at an inner city school, and in the time I was there the school went from “academic probation” to “academic emergency.” Most of the students were pretty behind in their reading levels and the students, teachers, and tutors were not given the necessary supplies to help them. Some of the school and city administrators had a horrible attitude towards the education of these children. They had the mindset that some of these kids were hopeless, and since they weren’t understanding something now, there was nothing more that could be done about it. They were basically giving up on some of these kids. As an education major, it really startled and upset me to realize and experience this for the first time. It upsets me to think about those kids, who have no say over what family situation they are born in to, or what school district they will go to, and people just give up on them. The only lifestyle the kids grow up seeing is the one that the other adults around them lead, who had the same sort of schooling experiences that they are having. As many of these kids grow up, they won’t realize that even though their education experience is unfortunate and unfair, they can rise above this and achieve great things in their life. We need to fix these inequalities between school districts by reevaluating our funding and organization of struggling public schools. To me education is a very important thing, and every child deserves a quality education.
My experience has lead me to decide that it should be someone’s choice whether to continue with their education after high school, but not before this. In the movie “The Pursuit of Happyness,” the main character realizes that he can succeed even without a college degree, but he would not have been able to do so without the education he received while growing up Many students to do not realize how valuable an education is until it is too late. We should, in order to make success a possibility for all American youth in our public school system, concentrate on fixing the major inequalities in the school system today. As Nussbaum argues, everyone needs the capability to receive an education in order to live a full life.
As a little side note: watch the movie “Freedom Writers.” It ties into my views on education and my experience tutoring in the inner city! It’s an AWESOME movie.
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