ABSTRACT
The concept of equal opportunity represents something of a paradox for Americans. This chapter professes to believe in equal opportunity, yet it allows unequal opportunity to abound. The rhetoric suggests that equal opportunity is a single and ideal state of affairs—difficult to attain, perhaps, but definitely to be desired. The first covert element is the agent, or class of agents, to whom the opportunities belong. The second covert element in all statements of opportunity is the goals or set of goals toward which the opportunities are directed. The derivative nature of the word "equal" in "equal opportunity" inheres in the dictionary meaning of "equal". "Equal" means the same thing in the phrase "equal opportunity" as it does everywhere else. The Public Telecommunications Act of 197820 nicely illustrates the derivative nature of "equal" in "equal opportunity". Equal opportunity is neither a single state of affairs nor ideal—neither difficult to attain nor inherently desirable.
