There's a difference between treating everyone equally and treating everyone the same. The goal of education in the U.S. is to help every student meet his/her potential. Suppose you were very good in math, for example, and other students weren't. If we insisted that you all do the same problems each day, that would be treating you the same, but in a harmful way. That's why schools have honors and AP classes for students capable of doing more advanced work. On the other hand, if a student has a learning disorder, treating them the same as everyone else would mean not giving them support for their particular problems. Treating students equally should mean determining each student's abilities and needs, and trying to meet them. Treating students the same would mean teaching to the middle, at the expense of those with different needs.
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There's a difference between treating everyone equally and treating everyone the same. The goal of education in the U.S. is to help every student meet his/her potential. Suppose you were very good in math, for example, and other students weren't. If we insisted that you all do the same problems each day, that would be treating you the same, but in a harmful way. That's why schools have honors and AP classes for students capable of doing more advanced work. On the other hand, if a student has a learning disorder, treating them the same as everyone else would mean not giving them support for their particular problems. Treating students equally should mean determining each student's abilities and needs, and trying to meet them. Treating students the same would mean teaching to the middle, at the expense of those with different needs.