Equality

THE TESTIMONY OF EQUALITY begins with the belief that all have a right to well-being and belonging. We encourage all to turn inward for guidance and truth. All are deserving of respect, no matter what our differences may be. This right to well-being and belonging, and the respect that it demands, provides a powerful support for growth and change. It creates the ground for a community of mutual respect. The foundation of equality and mutual respect in our educational community requires that each individual is valued for the unique talents and challenges they bring. Each is offered opportunities and support suited to their needs and to ensure that they flourish.

Closely bound to the testimony of equality are the practices of equity and justice, which are, put simply, equality in action.

Economic and learning differences may foster an inequality of respect. How do we address these?

Following the Quaker belief that we all have equal potential to speak the truth, how do I foster the capacity to speak my truth and listen to that of others?

How does the testimony of equality promote equity and belonging?

JANE ADDAMS, 1912

“The good we secure for ourselves is precarious and uncertain…until it is secured for all of us and incorporated into our common life.”

PAUL A. LACEY, 1998

“Though all of us are attracted to physical beauty, cleverness, wittiness, and intelligence, the Quaker affirmation that there is that of God in each person asserts that being worthy of respect does not depend on attractive qualities or skills. Until we can respect another person without any justification except that he or she is a child of God, it is not really respect.”

FAITH & PRACTICE

EQUALITY

JANE ADDAMS, 1912

“The good we secure for ourselves is precarious and uncertain…until it is secured for all of us and incorporated into our common life.”

PAUL A. LACEY, 1998

DESMOND TUTU, 1994

“My humanity is bound up in yours, for we can only be human together.”