Equality is a naive man's fantasy, a demagogue's propaganda, and a hypocrite's catch-phrase

I HATE ROMANO.
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“A society that puts equality…ahead of freedom,” Milton Friedman once said, “will end up with neither.” In our frenetic pursue of equality, are we losing our sense of its meaning?

Our interim principal has a vision--a noble vision of equality. The first step in achieving this equality seems to be the elimination of the Pre-Calculus BC Honors class because of its inadequate size. How is class size pertinent to equality? Well, it seems that a 30-person regular class and a 15-person AP class is a sign of inequality. Following this logic, varsity volleyball team and honors choir should certainly be eliminated since freshmen volleyball team is double the varsity’s size and honors chorus almost one eighth the size of the general choir. Nonetheless, it is obvious that the elimination of varsity sports teams and honors music classes is not part the Equality Activists' agenda.

How can the elimination of a higher level class because of its size be justified then? Just like the varsity volleyball team and honors chorus, AP and honor classes are selective in nature. It shouldn’t be surprising that there are fewer students in more competitive classes and special education courses. There will never be a honors wind ensemble that is larger than the general band. You will never see a varsity and freshmen team of the same size, because then the varsity team would only impose even stricter standards.

Equality cannot be simply equated with having same number of students in all classes. Equality is about serving everyone’s needs regardless of his or her race, sex, and such. Are the students in the special education program receiving the same attention as those in the regular and AP classes? Are the “young scientists” given as much opportunity as the “young businessmen”?

The Equality Activists proposed another plan coded “Leveling the Playing Field." The school is considering eliminating requirements and standards such as PSAT sores and marking period grades for students who wish to enlist in AP classes. Well, it’s true that people’s invaluable intellectual curiosity should not be smothered just because of one bad day or one bad year, but, again, following the same logic, I, who can’t even run ten meters without panting, should be allowed to join the varsity football team--my most fervent passion.

Well, the answer is obviously no. Even though “equality for all” resonates deeply with our egalitarian heart and democratic soul, we can’t just throw away standards once and for all. Standards are not elitists’ schemes to legitimize their dirty goals. Standards exist because this world is naturally selective. Colleges are selective. Jobs are selective. Heart transplants are selective. A dreamer who craves for utopian equality may well choose to live in a totalitarian government where jobs are assigned, competitions nonexistent, and lives plain and perfect.