Fanny was Wright about education

I read an interesting article about Frances “Franny” Wright in yesterday’s Cincinnati Enquirer.

Here’s an excerpt from the article by Jeff Seuss:

A major cause for her was the need for women’s education. From an 1829 lecture:

“Equality! Where is it, if not in education? Equal rights! They cannot exist without equality of instruction. ‘All men are born free and equal!’ They are born, but do they not so live? Are they educated as equals? And if not, can they be equal? And if not equal, can they be free?”

Thankfully, the young women of today are educated as equals in the U.S. But Fanny’s cry for equality still rings true if you look at socio-economic factors.

In this great country of ours, most public school districts receive nearly half of their funding from property taxes. So schools in affluent neighborhoods, where property values are high, receive much more funding per student than schools in areas where property values are lower. In other words, the rich get richer, and the poor get inferior school resources. It’s tough to make progress when every school day is an uphill battle.

“Human kind is but one family. The education of its youth should be equal and universal.”

part of the epitaph on Fanny Wright’s obelisk at her grave in Cincinnati