Education: Right or Privilege?

Havell Markus

Dr. Allison Parker

ENG 102

16 June 2014

Today we have accepted education as an essential human right; however, do we even know why education is considered a right just like life, liberty, and pursuit of happiness?  Is education even a right for everyone, or is it just privilege for some?  Today many conversations seek to argue that education should actually be a privilege not a right like life, liberty, and pursuit of happiness.  If a significant amount of individuals do not consider education as a right then there exists a societal problem.  The progression of assuring education globally to every child is hindered and could not be maximized without the joint effort and support of every individual.  Furthermore, in some cases, these individuals stance on education being a privilege overturns the stance of others who support education as a right.  Now after researching and reading many journal articles, I have built my own informed stance on this topic.  Today, I wish to share my informed stance.  I argue education should be right for everyone not a privilege for some. 

Walter E William's argument
on education not being a right.

            Before moving forward, it is important that my readers understand how a privilege and a right is defined under these specific context.  In the article “Difference between ‘individual rights’ and ‘privileges’”, Dr. Kevin Eggers, a supporter of education being a privilege, defines privilege by stating, “If we as individuals own the ‘right,’ it’s our individual right.  If the government owns (or controls) the ‘right,’ it’s really a privilege” (Eggers).  According to Eggers, people naturally own a right, but privilege is granted to the people.  For instance, people are naturally entitled to their own life not the government; however, the people are not naturally entitled to education since the government grants it.  Eggers’s logos to support his argument of this definition comes from his personal deductive reasoning, rather than known facts.  Furthermore, throughout the article Eggers uses well-reasoned and bold statements to build the ethos of his argument to support education is a privilege.  On the other hand, in the Journal of Medical Ethics, Dr. Michael Lockwood defines right as “Intimately connected with two other concepts, that of justice and that of a duty of obligation” (150).  Lockwood cites famous and well-respected philosophies of Thomas Hobbes and Jeremy Bentham to support that rights carry an utilitarian end, which seeks “greatest happiness of the greatest number” of individuals (151).  According to Lockwood and his different cited philosophies, granting someone a right makes them moral, since it places a moral obligation on people to pursue collective goals in addition to personal goals.  In conclusion both Eggers and Lockwood’s carry out an effective argument.  Both use strong ethos and logos by either using credible sources or logical reasoning to support their definitions of privilege and rights. 

Different philosophies on the
 Social Contract theory that show
the government carries a natural
 obligation to protect people's natural
rights of life, liberty, and happiness.

            Now the question remains whether education should be consider a right for everyone or a privilege for some.  To answer this question it is essential to forgo past and consider current societal expectations.  In today’s world, education “facilitates social mobility, leads to high status occupations, correlates with high wages, leads to power positions in the political and economic sphere, influences child care and domestic work, etc.” (Halvorsen 344).  Furthermore, education is “essential for the personal development of a human actor, for the ability to comprehend the structures and systems of action surrounding the actor” (Halvorsen 344).  Thus, with given facts, today education fuctions as an “enabling” right for an utilitarian end.  Access to education enables individuals gain the skill set to secure their entitled natural rights of life, liberty, and pursuit of happiness.  It seeks for an global collective end, since it improves life both at collective and individual level.  If we look at education in the past, it would be consider as a privilege, since the government owned education.  In the past, education was not entirely necessary for individuals to fulfill their naturals rights.  Even if majority of the people did not receive education, they were still able to carry a sustainable life.  However, in the current modern society without education there is almost no hope for majority of the people to carry out a sustainable lifestyle, which infringes on their entitled natural rights.  Since every individual owns their natural right this implies they also own the right to education, since without education they would fail to uphold their natural rights.  Therefore, disregarding the past context of education, today it should be a right for everyone rather than a privilege for some. 

A quote from Nelson Mandela
supporting education as right and
highlighting its collective end.

            To sum up my argument, specifically in this context, the government owns privileges while  Furthermore, rights seek to meet an utilitarian end and make people more moral.  Education was a privilege for the people in the past, since it was not entirely essential for them to carry out a sustainable lifestyle and fulfill their natural rights.  However, in today’s modern society education should be a right for everyone since enables people to acquire a skill set to meet their natural rights.  Furthermore, accepting education as a right undertakes an utilitarian end and promotes moral action.  Since education should ultimately be a right for everyone, implementation of the right implies a collective and social obligated action.  Thus, education should be right and not a privilege. 

            

Works Cited

Halvorsen, Kate. "Notes on the Realization of the Human Right to Education ." Human Rights Quarterly 12.3 (1990): 341-364 .

Lockwood, Michael. "Rights." Journal of Medical Ethics 7.3 (1981): 150-152.

Eggers, Kevin. "Difference between 'individual Rights' and 'privileges'" Napa Valley Register. N.p., 28 Oct. 2013. Web. 16 June 2014. <http://napavalleyregister.com/news/opinion/mailbag/difference-between-individual-rights-and-privileges/article_07f76ae8-4029-11e3-926c-001a4bcf887a.html>.