"Today, education is perhaps the most important function of state and local governments. Compulsory school attendance laws and the great expenditures for education both demonstrate our recognition of the importance of education to our democratic society. It is required in the performance of our most basic public responsibilities, even service in the armed forces. It is the very foundation of good citizenship. Today, it is a principal instrument in awakening the child to cultural values, in preparing him for later professional training, and in helping him to adjust normally to his environment. In these days, it is doubtful that any child may reasonably be expected to succeed in life if he is denied the opportunity of an education. Such an opportunity, where the state has undertaken to provide it, is a right which must be made available to all on equal terms.
We come then to the question presented:
Does segregation of children in public schools solely on the basis of race, even though the physical facilities and other tangible factors may be equal, deprive the children of the minority group of equal educational opportunities?
We believe that it does."
U.S. Supreme Court Chief Justice Earl Warren in a 1954 decision that ruled that separate schools for blacks and whites were unconstitutional
Source: Legal Information Institute, Cornell Law School, Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka.
According to the passage, how might the court define "equal educational opportunity"?
Fatty999999
1 year, 4 months ago