Blogger #2 - Noah Boyle - Period 9 - 9/29/21

Blogger #2
Noah Boyle
Period 9
9/29/21


Aim: Why are the terms, equality and rights important to society?

The period began with a discussion about our beliefs of the meanings of a grouping of words that appeared as so:

Many people shared their belief that some of these words may come to mean the same thing, but have different connotations. This then sparked the debate about the meanings of equality and fairness.

Resources to help with connotation and denotation: https://youtu.be/wqyS7AiHqLY

Fairness versus Equality

Then came the discussion of equality and fairness, whether they are the same thing. It was determined that equality means that everyone is at the same level, but fairness means everything is justified, even if things aren’t necessarily equal. Fairness deals with morals while equality means that everyone is 100% the same as everyone. We then tied this into society, where we found that you can try to make the masses happy through equality, but it may not be possible.

After this discussion, a team activity was held. In this activity, we brought up the topic of if “Life in the USA would be perfect if everyone were totally equal.” Then, we were tasked with creating laws that would benefit all. While discussing what you can do for good, you are also taxed with addressing what problems may arise in society.


My group discussed that life in the USA might not be as perfect if everyone were totally equal for the reason that the USA was built off inequality. For my group, some laws of an equal society would be:

- a merit-based system, where everyone is given equal opportunities
- Requirement to get a fixed mount of education


To help the physically and medically impaired, we decided that we would invest large amounts of money to provide the necessary technologies to ensure their impairment doesn’t affect their life. We determined that some problems that may arise in a forced-equal society would be discontentment with quality of life as well as human emotion getting in the way. We can handle those problems through a strict punishment system. A lack of morality in society would arise and large imbalances would arise in society despite it being fair and equal.


So, in all, my group, as well as the class, determined that a perfect society is impossible because of the variation of cultures and the fact that different things are required to be given to different people for them to be satisfied. A classmate, Ilaria Perrini, brought up that a dog and mouse may receive different amounts of food to be satisfied, which shows that you may be equal, but then, is it fair? Both may receive the same amount of food, but there are two outcomes. The mouse has enough food, but the dog doesn’t, or the dog has enough, and the mouse is plentiful. In a fair society, both animals would receive the proper amounts they need per sitting, not a fixed amount that may benefit the other.

Another classmate, Ahmad El Atat brought up that boundaries would need to be set, but in an equal society, it wouldn’t be fair to set them, proving once again, that an equal society isn’t possible.


Ms. Peterson brought up a great point about equality. She said, “They say it (equality) is great, but the actions do not support each other.” The mentioned actions are the actions of the people to make an equal society. In the statement, Ms. Peterson explained that people strive to have an equal society, but their actions in attempts to do so don’t follow their plan. She then posed the questions of if we should shoot for equality, or should we shoot for something else. And through her words it was determined that we should rather shoot for fairness, because in fairness, society can be better without being destroyed.