[MD] Quality sacrificed to equality

[Arlo Bensinger]

[Ian]
Hi Arlo, not sure where you were coming from with the quoted 
sentence, "some things are better than others", But, Yes.

[Arlo]
The typical rant against "equalization" from a MOQ context relies on 
this from ZMM, "But some things are better than others, that is, they 
have more quality." My point is that many use this (or confuse this) 
as an attempt to point to some deeper existential value of the 
person. Little Johnny's math score is "better" than Little Joey's. We 
shouldn't gloss over that to make Joey "feel good". If he gets a "D", 
he gets a "D". They should not both get "A's" to satiate Joey's need 
to feel good about himself. Fair enough, I say, but  where from there?

What we have gotten in this pendulum swing is a system that does not 
make a profound value judgement of Joey, "he's just stupid, a dumb 
loser kid". What we want is a system that asks, "why did Joey fail?" 
And we should have a system that does not dismiss Joey as 
existentially inferior to Johnny. And that, Ian, is where we WERE. 
That is the historical arc from which this pendulum has swung. So 
when the talk-radio buffoons bloviate about so-and-so ridiculous 
example of "equalization", I keep in mind that for every example of 
THAT, there are countless Joey's who may find success in alternate 
learning environments, who are not ridiculed as being "stupid", nor 
dismissed by a system into a dead-end path. For every "team that is 
not allowed to keep score", there are now many, many disabled kids 
who are given the opportunity to excel in a system that turned a 
cold, blind eye to them for so long.

In other words, the idea of "betterness" is used by some to attempt 
to hierarchically rate the worth of a person, rather than the Quality 
of an ability. And it is with an eye towards this that I remain 
critical of those who constantly condemn "equality".