Aim: Why are the terms “equality” and “rights” important to society?
Do Now:
In the beginning of today’s lesson we started with a group Do Now discussion where we had to discuss what the words on the slides meant to us. In my group discussion, Melody and Rachel started off the discussion stating that the words “alike” and “equal” both meant some sort of similarity. I added on saying that “disability” and “handicap” both meant some sort of malfunction of your body that prevents you or makes doing something harder. Janice also brought up a point saying that “equal” and “handicap” were related since if you wanted society to be equal, you couldn’t have someone with a handicap since then they are at a disadvantage. I also mentioned how the words “life”, “liberty”, and “pursuit of happiness” were the ideals that you want to live your life by.
We then moved on to a class discussion with the same prompt where our classmates pointed out that “disablity” “responsibilities” and “handicaps” were the unfortunate sides of life that might limit you from what you truly want to do. One classmate also said that the words on the left column (alike, equal, life, liberty, pursuit of happiness, rights) were the good things that you experience or want to experience in life.
We then had a whole class discussion on the slide below:
A classmate started the conversation saying that there were a lot of problems with equality as there are some places where people are extremely wealthy while in other places some people live in extreme poverty. They mentioned how when some people are extremely happy and fortunate, there are some who are extremely unfortunate, making the middle ground what you want to achieve for everyone, hence the want for equality. Another classmate mentioned that people wanted equality because it is something that affects everyone. Society is based on the people, and if the people are unhappy, there will be unrest and conflict, equality is needed to maintain peace and keep everyone happy.
After we finished the second slide, we then discussed the third and final slide of our lesson, answering the 5 questions as a group and then together as a class:
First, I started the discussion by saying that I don’t think that the USA would be perfect if everyone were totally equal since There will always be people who want more and it's just human nature to want more. My group agreed and further expanded upon that saying that there will always be someone at the top, above the others, as shown throughout human history. Together we all collectively agreed that having total equality would just be impossible as there are too many different types of people and trying to conform them to all the same thing wasn’t possible. The class discussion we had for the first question also yielded similar results as everyone agreed that forcing people to be totally equal wouldn’t make people happy as there will always be those with ambitions and want to advance as well as those who come from different backgrounds being forced into the same situation. If someone who came from an extremely wealthy background were forced into a downgrade for equality, there would be mass dissatisfaction but for someone who came from a poor background, the equality would actually benefit them, and this would lead to conflict.
For the second question our group said that some laws that a totally equal society might have are maybe some sort of law to limit how much of something you can have to ensure that everyone stays equal. We also agreed that there would also be some sort of law for fair distribution. In the class discussion, the same point was brought up as our classmates mentioned that there would be rules that limit people for total equality. Here is a comedy skit video: Neel Kolhatkar - #Equality which exaggerates what total equality would be, but it has the basic concept of what total equality would look like. Free thought and opinions would be totally eliminated, as there would be laws that totally suppress everything unique about a person to maintain equality.
For the third question, my group said there would have to be some sort of help system to provide for those who need the extra help, but I mentioned how this would be a problem since this means that one person would be receiving more than the others, eliminating the total equality. But if the person who needed the help didn’t receive the help they needed, they wouldn't be living the same life as everyone else since they might have a harder time than everyone else, making this sort of society impossible. In the class discussion, this point was further expanded upon as they mentioned how there are some things you can’t give a less mentally or physically capable that would help them catch up, and so the only other option would be to limit those that are ahead. That option also isn't plausible as we said in class that it would be impossible to limit someone who is too smart or to somehow give intelligence to those who are less mentally capable.
Then for the fourth question, Sora said a problem that would arise in a society where equality is informed is that everyone’s individuality is suppressed for the sake of equality. The video George Carlin on Individuality talks more about the dangers and problems of eliminating individuality. Not everyone would want to be something that they aren’t and people will begin to want for more than what they are forced to be. In the class discussion, they agreed with our group points as they mentioned how people who don’t want to be forced to do something will protest, or rebel and they also mentioned a whole new point on how the ones that are enforcing the laws for equality would become corrupt.
And for the final question, my group said that equality wasn’t possible as there just was no way to make every human being equal. This video: Why do we need leadership? shows us just how much leaders are actually involved in our lives. Without them our society would be completely different and maybe not for the better. Human nature is to want more and as we mentioned before in question one, there would always be someone who rises to the top, above the others. The class had the same idea saying that equality just isn’t possible unless there was some way every single human being was created identical down to every strand of DNA and genetics.
The video: Why Equality is Unhelpful expands upon how unrealistic a totally equal society is.
For the final conclusion of this lesson, we deduced that being forced into equality would actually create a lot of problems. Total equality is impossible, a lie, and fairness is what people really want, help for those who need it, and for everyone to just live a happy life. The video on Equity and Equality explains the differences more clearly further clarifying the difference between the 2 concepts.
The image below also helps simplify and visualize the concepts that were discussed throughout the lesson:
Reflection:
In this lesson we learned and discussed about a totally equal society and thought about what it really means to have one. We discussed problems that might arise from an equal society, such as the impossibility of actual equality as giving more to some would invalidate the totally equal society, but not providing for those who need the extra help would also invalidate the idea as well, creating a paradox. We learned about this to understand more about society and what it means to have a totally equal society. This helped us understand that total equality is not what we really want and fairness is what we really strive for instead. This knowledge can be applied to real life when analyzing different societies and governments as well as in books for when we are covering a more dystopian world. More information and insight on this topic can help us understand how the system would work and achieve a more accurate understanding and conclusion.
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