Comments on A Very Nearly Tea: The Right to an Education, Part II

Tom, thank you for your comment and adding to the ...

2007-02-15T02:59:40.390-08:00

Tom, thank you for your comment and adding to the discussion.

I have read similar things (possibly in my ethics courses back in college). What you are describing as "positive rights," however, is not historically considered a right. It has more to do with privileges granted by the state, as in the Roman view which has probably had more influence in the world's views on liberty.

I, therefore, would tend to call them privileges. The proper term, I believe, is "entitlements." From Answers.com (just because it is the quickest):

"A government program that guarantees and provides benefits to a particular group: “fights . . . to preserve victories won a generation ago, like the Medicaid entitlement for the poor” (Jason DeParle)."

These are not rights, and these sorts of programs were actually not looked upon favorably at our founding and for some time afterwards. This entry has some more insight into that development, and I would encourage you to read Pierce's entire veto message which I quote in the entry.

I'm sorry it took me a bit to respond, but I wanted to provide a more thorough answer than what I had time for earlier!

I like to use the ethicists' distinction between n...

2007-02-14T06:56:43.370-08:00

I like to use the ethicists' distinction between negative rights - your right to not be interfered with, to not have somebody do something to you - and positive rights - your rights to compel other people to take certain acts. Stereotypically, my libertarian friends only acknowledge the existence of negative rights, while my more-socialist acquaintances spend a lot more time worrying about positive rights.

It might be easier if we had separate words for the two ideas, rather than requiring the adjective. I'm not at all familiar with the philosophical literature on this, but my personal view on this is that the negative rights are the unalienable ones (although one of things I read here uses alienation of the right to security - permitting police search - as part of a definition of rights), but that a legitimate government may choose to grant additional positive rights.

So it's reasonable to say that Americans have a negative right to liberty - nobody can stop you from getting an education. The government has extended that into a positive right - tax money is used to fund education. There is some liberty in the form of education; I'm not aware of anywhere in American where non-public schooling is forbidden. However, the individual liberty of education has in some places been interpreted to allow the government to prevent parents from "mis-educating" their kids, from interfering with their children's liberty. As an unschooler, I'm unhappy with this, but seeing other schooling situations (public, private, and home) that look like they actively do damage to the children, I can understand the temptation of that restriction. I think our society as a whole is not very clear about the balance between childrens' liberty, parents' duty of care, and parents' liberty to choose how to bring up their children.

Any time, Judy! Thanks for stopping by.While I wa...

2007-02-10T19:31:17.481-08:00

Any time, Judy! Thanks for stopping by.

While I was trying to find information about accreditation, I was surprised at how many things turned up. I know a lot of local school districts have run into problems for their failures, but I didn't realize how many Universities are affected.

Dana - excellent posts ! Thanks for giving me some...

2007-02-10T17:47:00.023-08:00

Dana - excellent posts ! Thanks for giving me something worthwhile to read/do on a Saturday night!

Thanks, scribbit! I definitely agree...and it is ...

2007-02-09T23:37:15.789-08:00

Thanks, scribbit! I definitely agree...and it is frustrating to read some of the arguments. We're saying the same words, but they have very different meanings.

A lucid, articulate post. The same argument appli...

2007-02-09T22:34:14.236-08:00

A lucid, articulate post. The same argument applies to health care and many other "rights" Americans are claiming.