ABSTRACT
In early societies, passing on the practical knowledge of the culture was considered essential and necessary from the standpoint of daily survival. The United States has a long history of educational malfeasance and denial and suppression arising from chattel slavery, to the so-called 'Jim Crow' Laws, to discrimination against women, to language barriers in the 'melting pot'. The right to education is clouded by such machinations from those who would have the children understand the world in ways that would benefit a small group of people, allowing them to control the children's thinking about matters from which those in power would profit. The right to education means that students have the right to learn about a variety of versions of the world, to discuss and understand those versions and to make decisions about which ones, make sense to them and how to pursue their lives accordingly.
