THE PSYCHOLOGICAL COSTS OF QUALITY AND EQUALITY IN EDUCATION

Abstract

A review of research indicates that the serious, inadequacies experienced in school by disadvantaged children, especially Negro boys, have their origins primarily in prenatal damage, father absence, impoverished home environment, and dysfunctional patterns of child rearing. In an integrated classroom, these inadequacies present problems, not only to the Negro child but also to his white companion, who is exposed to the contagion of disorganized and antisocial behavior. Findings of social psychological research call for a counterstrategy of active involvement in work with disadvantaged children on the part of middle-class children and adults of both races. The results are seen as benefiting not only the disadvantaged but also the advantaged child by providing him with needed training in actual behavior consistent with the democratic values of human dignity and social responsibility. The costs of quality and equality in education-calculated, as they usually are, in dollars and cents-invariably turn out to be higher than expected. Not infrequently the public is unwilling to pay the price, and even when it does so, it is often with reluctance, pain, and resentment, toward both those who impose the payment and those who receive the benefits. The reasons for resistance are well known. Personal financial resources are slow to acquire, the demand invariably exceeds the supply, and what little we have is urgently needed to provide for ourselves and our families. The sobering burden of this paper is to show that all these considerations apply with even greater force when the costs of quality and in