The Injustice of "Sameness As Fairness"

Through the “sameness as fairness” framework, we are compelled to implement an English-only  and one –size-fits-all curricula”(Gutierrez110).  This ideology has been placed to keep the power in the hands of the white rich population and to maintain the status of the minority and poor in a lower social and economic status.  “Sameness as fairness” provides and limits any kind of advantages to the “power culture” only.  Is this the kind of injustice that we want to see in our country? An injustice done to our innocent children whom will keep this cycle alive if we don’t make a change in our school systems.   

Neo-liberals and conservatives believe that all schools should have a standard education with a “common culture and history”.  They are not open to the wonderful domain of diversity.   “”Of consequence to students from non-dominant communities, the mandated instructional programs are organized around reductive notions of reading and writing processes and practices that dummy-down literacy so dramatically that it no longer looks like literacy.  Of significant concern are the short and long-term consequences of the socializing effects autonomous forms of literacy have on students for whom schools fail” (Gutierrez 111).  The idea of “sameness as fairness” is an injustice done to the students who belong to the non-dominant culture and will continue to be the ones suffering in society.  As a future ESL teacher I believe that the practices behind “sameness as fairness” will only bring separation within our society.  Instead of making us a whole we will be divided by the feelings of resentment and greed. 

The same people who argue that the idea of “sameness as fairness” should be implemented in all schools are the ones who have been shown to be the hypocrites.  These people believe in the “color-blind” practices of common standards and common culture under the logic of the “sameness as fairness” framework, and to implement English-only  and one –size-fits-all curricula”(Gutierrez 110). But, what happens when they are confronted with the idea.  For example, through the Abbott ruling we see how they are not willing to give into the ideas of “sameness as fairness”, by having children from poor neighborhoods receive the same amount of money that their own children receive for their education.

Through the works of Moskowitz we are able to understand that there can’t be a “universal sauce”, but that we need to satisfy the needs of all by providing a variety of sauces.  There is no universal education that will satisfy the needs of everyone, because we are all different.  This concept contradicts everything about the philosophy of “sameness as fairness” and we should embrace the diversity that exists in our world.