ALEXANDER BROWN

Abstract: Adult education has long been the Cinderella of the education system. This is not helped by the fact that there is currently an impasse between employers, government and individuals over who should finance such training. So what, if anything, can philosophers do to help resolve the normative question of who ought to pay, setting aside for the moment the practical question of how this might be put into effect? An important strand of contemporary egalitarian philosophy argues that equality of opportunity for education should be implemented in such a way that children with the same level of talent and the same willingness to make an effort have the same opportunity to attain skills and qualifications such that they are each able (at the onset of adult life) to compete effectively with others for advantageous positions and rewards in society.  But what about children or teenagers who drop out of education or make such little effort that they achieve wholly inadequate exam results? Should they be offered second and third chances for free education as adults funded by the state?A case is made for lifelong as opposed to one-off equality of opportunity for education on a number of grounds, including efficiency, utility, the value of choice, the social bases of selfrespect and responsibility-catering prioritarianism. This last view supports lifelong access to education ( for reasons of priority) but with the additional (responsibility-catering) stipulation that adults should contribute at least some of the costs themselves in so far as they are accountable for not making enough effort the first time around.

Key words:equality;education;opportunity

总结：1、成人教育一直是教育系统中的敏感话题，这得益于目前存在的事实，即个人培训的费用究竟由雇主、政府还是个人来承担。

2、当代平等主义哲学认为，社会应该实现教育机会的均等，这样步入社会的学生才可以获得相同的技能和资格，保证起点公平，这样才能促进有效竞争，实现真正的公平。

来源：Journal of Philosophy of Education

Vol. 40, No. 1, 2006.