Equality vs Equity

When it comes to access, opportunity, diversity and inclusion as determinants of success, which is more important?

I am thinking about this today as my hometown is deciding whether or not to do away with the entrance exam of the specialized high schools, of which I'm a graduate, in an attempt to deal with the decline in enrollment of black and Latinx students.

The opposition to the exam suggests that the test is racially biased, but that doesn’t make sense considering that my HS was blackity black during the 80s and 90s. I’m sure the test has evolved over the years but to blame the test without also acknowledging that NYC’s public education system was built on a racial caste system that disparaged low-income and communities of color is dishonest.

Over the years students have passed and failed with and without test prep. In the past, junior high schools like mine offered test prep for this exam or parents invested in test prep. Junior high schools like mine, which hosted a magnet program (similar to gifted and talented), were funnels to the specialized high schools. Those programs, like mine, disappeared in the late 90s and early 2000s. So how can we say the problem of representation lies with the exam? What the exam scores do highlight based on the demographics of who passes and fails speaks both to equality and equity within the K-8 education system.

I am also thinking about how the phases of the menstrual cycle impact critical thinking, decision making, and energy, how #periodproblems impact performance, productivity, and attendance in the workplace, and how we don't make accommodations for this.

Opponents of menstrual leave policies (women! sigh) argue that to implement one would be to pathologize women's menstrual cycles and otherwise position them as less capable than men. I agree, but only when it means that we are suggesting that women are tiny versions of men and when we are measuring women's performance and productivity based on how men perform in the same situations. I agree when it means we are centering the male gaze.

Is that fair, considering that some men do not get periods? There is no equivalent physiological comparison so what is there to pathologize? This conversation should extend to all “invisible” illnesses, by the way.

Within disability justice it is understood that people who are differently abled are not handicapped by their disabilities, but by the systems and structures in place that center able-bodiedness and able-mindedness.

So I am thinking about how treating everyone the same (equality) is problematic when outcomes are largely determined by our abilities, privileges, resources, etc and looking at how to create models that gives everyone what they need to be successful and thrive (equity).

What say you?