Blogger #2 - Sophia Chan - Period 3 - 9/29/2021

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

Today’s lesson started with a Do Now discussion in which we had to discuss what the words above meant to us. During the group discussion, my group all agreed that the words “alike” and “equal” both meant similarity. On the other hand, the words “disability” and “handicap” both meant some sort of malfunction that would bring you disadvantages. The words “life”, “liberty”, and “pursuit of happiness” are also some of the ideals you want to have in your life.

Following the Do Now discussion, was a class discussion towards the following questions,

Why do you believe that “equality” has been the “hot topic” of discussion in society?

Why do you believe that society is so concerned with the equality of people? 

During the discussion, people stated that “equality” has been the “hot topic” of discussion in society because nobody likes being treated as inferior to others. Of course there are some exceptions to that, but the majority of people feel better being treated as equals. Equality is just what these people wish for in order to even out the playing field. Moving on to the second part of the question, there were a variety of responses for it. Some said that people who don’t get what they want become angry, and society doesn’t wish to deal with angry citizens, as there’s a chance that the anger might evolve into something physical and violent. Others mentioned that equality is something many people are passionate about, but there are many different possible interpretations for the meaning of “equality.” And a more relevant, modern problem that still goes on in today’s world, is racism and other prejudices against people with different appearances. Equality for those groups of people is a common issue.

After the class discussion, we were split into groups once again for the discussions of the following questions,

After the team discussion, all groups were back together as a class to share their ideas on each of the questions. Most of our class agree that society would never be perfect even if everyone is totally equal. This is because perpetual equality would be hard to achieve because not everyone would agree with everything, and in order to have order in society, authority is needed. But that automatically defines the concept of total equality. Furthermore, the interpretation of what “total equality” means also plays a factor in how “perfect” a society can be. Depending on whether equality means total equality in every facet of life or specific organizations, life in a country where everyone is totally equal would differ.


Our class also pitched in their thoughts on what kind of laws a society where everyone is equal would have. Some of these ideas were: no favoritism in races or gender and treating everyone with respect, illegalizing killing, stealing and hate crimes, along with other laws along the same line. One particular problem with these laws, however, is that criminals would have to be given free reign. Because if they were arrested for killing and stealing, as mentioned above, they would be seen as “inferior” or “different” to the common folk, which goes against a totally equal society, as everyone is supposed to be “equal'', or rather “the same”.

In the same vein, people who are less capable mentally, physically and/or socially than regular people would be seen as “superior” than everybody else if they get better treatments, such as therapy and medication, in order for them to catch up with everybody else. In both cases, a true equal environment would prevent special needs people from getting special treatment as well as allow crime to flourish. To solve this problem, classmates mentioned that military force may help, which sadly, contradicts the idea of a totally equal society. This leaves us with only one solution, which is to give everyone else better treatment if the less capable were also given better treatment.

In an equal society, everyone would receive the same resources and have the same jobs, but there is no possible way to have a completely equal society if there are laws, and people to make sure that equality is being followed. In a society where government and competition doesn’t exist, and that people all live the same, boring lives, creativity and ambition in people will start to decline. Since all that the people desire is to have the same skills, have the same resources, which in other words, be the same to others, the ambitions and improvements that strive people to become better and more successful are no longer needed. This will automatically lead to a dystopian society, where everyone will become satisfied when they are

Reflection: 

After the day’s lesson, I came to realize how exactly nonliteral the societies of today’s world take the word “equality.” With the help of my classmate’s diverse opinions, I learned that having a perfect equal society was impossible. I learned that all humans are going to have a bias in life about anything and anyone, which will influence any decisions they make. As such, everyone preaching about having equality won’t ever get true equality. What people truly want is not a society in which everyone is totally equal, but one in which everyone is treated fairly, and are provided with the same rights and opportunities. It was also due to this lesson that I acknowledged that total equality may not be a positive thing as people are saying it is. Learning all this was necessary for me to understand that not everything is black and white. I now understand that equality, in the eyes of the common people, represents only a fraction of what it actually means. The world outside of school is a vast place, where people have to make constant decisions on what’s best for themselves and others. This knowledge also taught me to never take things at face value. I know some people can think that they’re already doing so, but more often than not, we let our biases control us without even noticing.