I finally learned the difference between equality and equity

@NJChicaa (116078)
United States
April 17, 2024 6:28pm CST
They've been talking about this since like before COVID and I never grasped the difference in the terms. I always walked out of meetings feeling like an idiot because I didn't get the difference. Today I figured it out. I am very much a visual learner. Like don't tell me how to get somewhere in words--draw me a map on a napkin. During the training today the facilitators asked the groups to look at pictures of equity, equality, and justice. Apparently they were classic memes but I had never seen them before. It was children of different heights trying to see a baseball game over a solid fence. As soon as I saw the images it became pretty clear what the distinction between the two was. In the equality you see that the children of different heights all get 1 box to stand on. That means that the 2 taller kids can see the game but the shortest one could not. (the tallest one could anyway) They don't all get the same results/view despite the fact that they were given the same support. The equity one shows that each child gets different numbers of boxes in order so that they all can have the same view of the game. Seeing that is what finally made it make sense to me. Justice is a newer addition to the meme and that is--just remove the barrier in the first place (knock the fence down) so everyone has the same opportunity. I'm all for that. So that was just one more thing that I learned this afternoon. So far this is the 2nd most useful professional development I've been involved in over the past 23 years.
4 people like this
2 responses
@marguicha (215642)
• Chile
17 Apr
I´m all for justice too. Wonderful post. And wonderful picture. Some people tend to think that the shorter kid "must" grow or else.
4 people like this
@LindaOHio (156811)
• United States
18 Apr
Great meme. I'm glad this training is so useful for you. Have a good day.
1 person likes this