{At Vote] [ga] Educational Equality Act

[Astrobolt]

General Assembly Resolution

Educational Equality Act

A resolution to promote funding and the development of education and the arts.

Category: Educational and Creativity

Area of Effect: Educational

Proposed by: The Ice States

Discrimination and harassment against protected classes in schools, such as targeting of minority students and discriminatory hate speech, is a widespread problem in some member nations, denying such students a safe and healthy education experience. Such discrimination and harassment can also create undue pressure on minority students to conceal their identity or minority status. However, some schools still take little to no action against discrimination within their schools, or merely engage in "lip service" against discrimination in the absence of strong legislation protecting minority groups in education. The World Assembly thus enacts as follows,

• For the purposes of this resolution, these terms are defined as follows,
  
  
  
  A "school" is defined as an institution designed for the organised education of students by providing learning spaces and environments.
  
  
  
  A "protected class" is any social categorisation implicitly or explicitly defined by World Assembly law as arbitrary or reductive, or which is protected as such under national or subnational law.
  
  
  
  "Hate speech" is defined as public speech which expresses or promotes, whether explicitly or implicitly, hate or discrimination towards a protected class; this includes, but is not limited to, the use of slurs against said class.

• Every school must actively and continuously work to prevent, and take action against, any instances within the scope of said school's authority of (a) hate speech, or (b) harassment of individuals based on their real or perceived membership of a protected class. Every school must also encourage its students to report and try to stop such acts should they occur. However, this provision shall not be interpreted as prohibiting the use of examples of hate speech for educational purposes, so long as this occurs in a manner which does not construe such hate speech as correct or legitimate.

• Every school must offer resources to its students to
  
  
  
  assist them in coming to terms with their belonging to a protected class;
  
  
  
  help them overcome harassment or discrimination for their real or perceived membership of a protected class; and
  
  
  
  otherwise support its students' mental health from issues involving said students' real or perceived membership in a protected class, including discrimination motivated thereby.

• Every member nation must prescribe, as part of a mandatory curriculum for all its students under the age of majority, regardless of whether relevant schools are publicly owned, and in a manner appropriate to said students' age, an understanding of discrimination against protected classes in said member nation, including
  
  
  
  the subjects, forms, and prevalence of discrimination in the present day, including recognising such discrimination, how and why it is unjust, and the impacts of various types of discrimination;
  
  
  
  any history in that member nation of discrimination against protected classes, regardless of state-enforced nature or lack thereof in such discrimination; and
  
  
  
  how such students can personally act to prevent or otherwise halt observed acts of discrimination or harassment against individuals based on their protected class status.

• All member nations must prohibit schools under their jurisdiction from discriminating against their students on the basis of their real or perceived membership of a protected class.

Co-author: Evinea





This is the discussion thread. To cast your vote, go HERE

[Pantso]

The Republic of Pantso is emphatically in favor.

[Tymus]

I am very much in favor of the idea, but I fear that this resolution is too internal. I have concerns about the provisions which require states to create “resources” such as to help students to feel like they belong (I’m on mobile so I can’t see the resolution right now). Again, I fully support the idea, but those requirements seem too far for me. I hate to say against, but I wonder if this matter would not be better done by individual nations.

[Jabberwocky]

A "protected class" is any social categorisation implicitly or explicitly defined by World Assembly law as arbitrary or reductive, or which is protected as such under national or subnational law.

This phrase makes my brain itch. Any social categorization defined as arbitrary or reductive. Really doesn't make sense to me. Despite which I vote FOR.

[Pantso]

Nov 4, 2023 17:36:32 GMT -5 Tymus said:

I am very much in favor of the idea, but I fear that this resolution is too internal. I have concerns about the provisions which require states to create “resources” such as to help students to feel like they belong (I’m on mobile so I can’t see the resolution right now). Again, I fully support the idea, but those requirements seem too far for me. I hate to say against, but I wonder if this matter would not be better done by individual nations.

Exactly what resources would be required is not stated, and therefore would presumably be left to the individual nation. I imagine that most of the time this would take the form of counseling and, in extreme cases, referral to psychologists and similar professionals. This is the same kind of support typically granted to students who have been the victim of harassment, assault, bullying, etc for other reasons. The resolution merely states that schools are required to deal with the fallout of discrimination and prejudice by both punishing the transgressor and supporting the victim. It may be a little unusual in that it's proactive and that resources must *also* be available to students who may be targeted based on their "protected class" rather than waiting until the damage is already done.

[Tymus]

That makes sense. I suppose I was thinking more of nations on the extreme, whether nations that have different protected classes than one might assume, or ones too poor, or with governments that don’t allow it, to establish nationwide resources. I suppose I’m also thinking from a very American view, in that we have a Department of Education that determines things like these, and so that is the work of our own government. I am fully aware that NationStates does not equal the world or the U.S., but that’s just the thought pattern that comes to me. The definition of protected classes also confuses me quite a bit, but someone smarter than me could probably figure it out in terms of running a nation. So while the act itself doesn’t sit all that well with me, I think that the benefits of it outweigh whatever costs might arise.