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I think some people respond more viscerally to threats to fairness than others. Threats to public education and public safety are two big triggers for me.
Foundations of Fairness
Horace Mann (1796-1859), considered by many to be the father of public education in the United States, developed six principles in 1838 that, though not universally accepted, have indisputably shaped the way we think about education and how we teach children.
Mann proposed that …
1. Citizens cannot maintain both ignorance and freedom;
2. This education should be paid for, controlled, and maintained by the public;
3. This education should be provided in schools that embrace children from varying backgrounds;
4. This education must be nonsectarian;
5. This education must be taught using tenets of a free society; and
6. This education must be provided by well-trained, professional teachers.
According to Graham Warder, “The common school would mitigate class conflict, circumvent anarchy, enhance civic engagement, and perhaps most importantly inculcate moral habits, all by molding society’s most malleable members” (Social Welfare History Project Horace Mann And The Creation Of The Common School).
Setting aside the nonsectarian piece of Mann’s thesis, my first years of formal education in parochial schools comported with much of his philosophy. Mann’s ideas not only shaped my learning but informed my 30-year teaching career.
For example, in elementary school, the nuns lined up the boys and girls separately, in order of height from shortest to tallest, which became more of a moving target as the years passed. In third grade, I lined up with my classmates Forrest and Carlos. My best buddy, Gary, was scrappier but shorter and was ahead of us in the line. This made sense to us. What did we know? Much of what came from the sisters was assumed to be ordained by God. Who would dare argue?
As time wore on, a different ordering system emerged, first come, first served. At the end of recess, kids would race for the lead position. Primacy went to the swiftest. Again, it made sense and seemed to fit the natural, albeit Darwinian, order. Why fight it?
Later, as adults, this "early bird" rule would order the universe. Isn’t that why “waiting lists” feel so democratic? "Take a number" was the tune at the DMV, the home of fairness and equitability. On occasions when more randomness is needed, lotteries are used. All this order and discipline began in school.
Gaming the System
Although human nature being what it is, some folks are not satisfied and try to game the system. Despite the adage, they sleep in AND find a way to get the worm, too. They juke the drawing to get a better number rather than wait for fate to make the call.
Actress Felicity Huffman’s sentencing a few years ago in a college cheating scandal was a red flag that even those with extraordinary means and resources still seek advantage over others. Imagine the irony of cheating to gain access to what is still considered by many a great social equalizer – education.
To me, the more people cheat, the more chaos looms. I begin to see this behavior everywhere. Even seemingly benign games like musical chairs seem to have gotten primal – all throwing elbows and knees. Why is winning so pressing for so many? Why is coming in first such an imperative? Why must order be sacrificed on the altar of personal gain?
Red Light, Green Light
Impatience and entitlement are taking heavy tolls on us, I feel. The internet is afire with warring egos seeking clicks and followers in chatrooms and comment boxes, sowing confusion and widening divisions. Reels of road rage and check-out counter meltdowns are so common in social media these days that they’re beginning to feel cliche, perhaps reinforcing the perception that this is all okay.
The biggest example of our waning commitment to order and fairness is the epidemic of red light running that is a national phenomenon. Over 900 people were killed, and nearly 120,000 were injured in red-light crashes in 2020 (Red light running).
Most of these accidents could have been prevented had drivers accepted that they didn't get to the intersection in time and would have to wait three minutes for their turn.
©Photo by Mathew Benjamin Brady, United States Library of Congress's Prints and Photographs division under the digital ID cph.3g07396. at https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=16462003%27.