UNCC300 Essay: Education as a Common Good and Inequality

This essay delves into the concept of education as a common good, examining its significance in fostering intellectual growth and societal development. It addresses the challenges of unequal distribution of educational resources, leading to educational inequality in the contemporary world. The essay explores the historical context of this inequality, particularly in the developing world during colonial periods, and its impact on literacy, economic mobility, and social inequalities. Furthermore, the essay proposes strategies to mitigate these challenges at various levels: within the professional community by reducing or eliminating the cost of education, within local communities by emphasizing the importance of education, and at the global level through the development of a unified curriculum. The conclusion reinforces the vital role of education in enabling individuals to lead dignified lives and advocates for equitable access to educational resources to diminish societal inequalities.

Running head: EDUCATION AS A COMMON GOOD
Education as a common good
Name of the Student
Name of the University
Author Note

1EDUCATION AS A COMMON GOOD
Education provides the important and significant opportunity to the individuals to
understand the worldly affairs and critically analyze them (Melé, 2009). In this regard, it can be
noticed that education aids in the improvement of the intellectual intelligence of the people.
Education has been inexistence in the world since times immemorial. Although, it might not
have taken up a formal shape in the ancient days, the primary motive remained the same. A
teacher was entrusted with the responsibility of imparting important sociological and worldly
lessons to his or her pupils with the main objective of transforming them in to enlightened
individuals of the society (Peña-López, 2015). The purpose of this essay is to understand the
unequal division of the educational resources within the various individuals of the world and
how it led to the generation of educational inequality. In this respect, the idea of common good
has been looked in to and examined. Furthermore, the essay has also proposed certain strategies
which would be helpful in mitigating this challenge as faced in the contemporary world order.
The turn of the twenty first century has brought about major changes in the structuring of
the world order. In the ancient days, the government of the various nation states of the globe did
not emphasize on the improvement of the living standard of the individuals. However, in the
contemporary period of human history, the state leaders are trying to ensure that their citizens are
able to lead a decent and quality standard of life (Gottemoeller, 2015). In this regard, they have
placed more emphasis on the responsibility and obligation of the state governments.
The idea of shared common good refers to the obligation of the state leaders to ensure
that the people of the world are able to live a dignified life (Heyer, 2016). In this regard, it refers
to the sharing of all those resources which are beneficial to the individuals belonging to a certain
community. This broader idea of common good differs within the realm of philosophical
doctrines. In the contemporary world order, the idea of common good has found its ground

2EDUCATION AS A COMMON GOOD
within the social choice theory. In this context, common good refers to the idea that it needs to be
an activity related to social welfare.
The field of education belongs to the non-excludable and non-rivalrous segment of
common good. This means that education should be made freely available to the public as it is
present in abundance and there is no existing competition among the people to avail this item of
common good (Hulten, 2017). This is important to understand because knowledge aids in the
development of the society along with the improvement in the character and personality of the
individuals. If this field was made accessible to all the individuals of the society, then it would
provide the important base for them to improve upon their standard of living (Bhardwaj, 2016).
However, within the contemporary world order, the availing of education has proved to
be challenging since the field of education has been made more capitalist in nature. This means
that education can only be afforded by them who have the financial means to do so. It has placed
a huge conundrum on the idea of common good of the people. Since education has been made
more capitalist in nature, there is a need to reform this field so that it becomes affordable for all
the individuals of the society to afford being educated (Kanematsu & Barry, 2016).
In this regard, certain ways and measures can be proposed at the level of the professional
community to bring about such changes. For instance, within the professional community, the
price of education can be reduced or most preferably, eliminated. Education is the most basic
requirement of the human society as it aids them in improving their mental capacity and
intellectual level (Pitrová, 2015). Thus, professionally, the teachers can aim to provide education
to all the individuals of the society without discriminating amongst them (Dao, 2017).

3EDUCATION AS A COMMON GOOD
Another recommendation that can be provided for reforming the field of education for the
improvement of the society can be found within the local sphere. A community consist of a host
of people who are the main torch bearers of the customs and traditions which are found within
the structure of that community (Sharma, 2016). This means that the values which are imparted
to the individuals of the society depends on the cultural background of this society. In this
regard, a strategy can be proposed whereby the culture of the societies should be reformed. In
other words, the individuals of a society should be made to realize the importance of education
for the future generation. Education is an object which aids in the development of the society in
general by leading to the improvement on the standard of living of the people (Heyer, 2016). The
children get the advantage of analyzing the various societal occurring of the world by examining
them from the lenses of information which has been imparted to them. In this respect, from the
local community angle, it can be stated that the elders of the society should try to impart
important knowledge to their children and other youths without discriminating between them.
Knowledge should not remain limited within the formal sphere of a class room.
A strategy which can be proposed at the global level for bringing about a change in
education is that of the formulation of curriculum. Curriculum refers to the formulation of an
objective frame work which contains within it information as to what content needs to be taught
to the students along with a proposed time frame (Sharma, 2016). This is quite important for the
teachers and the professors as it allows them to have a formal frame work which guides them in
their teaching activities. Furthermore, curriculum is also significant for the pupils as it gives
them an idea of what they would be learning from their elders within their educational
institutions. The efficiency of curriculum decides on the extent of mental development and
maturity of the students within a particular region. As a consequence, if a global curriculum is

4EDUCATION AS A COMMON GOOD
developed, then it would provide the advantage of the state leaders to except the range of
intellectual intelligence of the entire youth generation to be more or less identical.
Thus, to conclude, it can be observed that education is one of the most important
requirement within the life of an individual for him or her to live in a dignified manner. In the
contemporary world order, education is considered to be an item of common good which means
that the state governments should ensure its accessibility to the people of the society. In this
regard, this essay has looked in to three strategies which can be provided at the professional
community level. At the local community level and at the global level. At each of these levels, it
has been proposed that education should be made free to the people so that no discrimination
exists amongst the people of the society with regards to their financial position. This would
greatly aid in the diminishing of the presence of inequality which exists in the society with
regard to education.

5EDUCATION AS A COMMON GOOD
References:
Bhardwaj, A. (2016). Importance of Education in human life: A holistic Approach. International
Journal of Science and Consciousness, 2(2), 23-28.
Dao, M. Q. (2017). Determinants of the Relative Importance of Education in Low-Income and
Lower-Middle Income Countries. Economia Internazionale/International
Economics, 70(2), 153-164.
Gottemoeller, S. D. (2015) Advocacy as an Expression of Charity.
Heyer, K. E. (2016). The Idea of the Common Good: Interdisciplinary Contributions to Catholic
Higher Education. Integritas: Advancing the Mission of Catholic Higher Education, 7(1).
Hulten, C. R. (2017). The importance of education and skill development for economic growth in
the information era (No. w24141). National Bureau of Economic Research.
Kanematsu, H., & Barry, D. M. (2016). Creativity and Its Importance for Education. In STEM
and ICT Education in Intelligent Environments (pp. 3-7). Springer, Cham.
Melé, D. (2009). Integrating personalism into virtue-based business ethics: The personalist and
the common good principles. Journal of Business Ethics, 88(1), 227-244.
Peña-López, I. (2015). Rethinking Education. Towards a global common good?.
Pitrová, K. (2015). Importance of education not only in crisis situations. Crisis Management and
Solution of the Crisis Situations 2015.
Sharma, M. (2016). Importance of Education in Emotional Adjustment: In Perspective of 21st
Century. Shikshan Anveshika, 6(1), 35-37.

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