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Over 90 percent of Americans believe that equality of opportunity is an ‘absolutely essential’ American ideal. This ideal is key to ongoing conversations about social mobility in the US, particularly with respect to public education.

About the project

The purpose of this website is to serve as a resource for academics, college and graduate students, teachers, school administrators, and interested citizens to learn about philosophical debates about equality of opportunity, and what these debates mean for the public provision of education. The site provides an annotated bibliography of major works, topically organized into three sections, about equality of opportunity and its application to education. The fourth section offers a list of major court cases in the US that have addressed different aspects of equality of opportunity in education, with links to the decisions and notes about the rulings.

More about the project

An introduction to the equality of opportunity

Freedom and equality are foundational values that we draw upon when envisioning a better society. Equality of opportunity is a social ideal that combines concern with freedom as opportunity and equality, and this social ideal provides a vision of how we ought to live together.

Read the full introduction