There are three forms of equality: equality of outcome, of opportunity, and of perception. Equality of perception is the most basic: it dictates that for people to be equal, each person should be perceived as being of equal worth. Equality of opportunity dictates that all people should have the same opportunities open to them if they put out the effort this is a central tenet of the “American Dream.” The final form of equality, equality of outcome, attempts to “level the playing field” by forcing people into certain roles and dictates that all individuals should tend towards the mean this form of equality is evident in socialist theory.

America has enacted laws that are based on equality of outcome to attempt to ensure that “minorities” and women have access to equal pay and to remove glass ceilings, but while these programs have repaired some of the damage, paraphrasing Milton Friedman, equality of outcome leaves most people without equality and without opportunity. This is because forced equality is not equality and only hides the real issue of inequality based on perceptions.

Equality is not saying that all people are physically and mentally equal, nobody would bet an average teenager could win a game of basketball against a professional player, nor can every six-year-old be a physicist because human beings are not inherently equal. However, “true equality” says that potentially everyone should have the same opportunities, that is to say, that potentially the toddler could play professional basketball and potentially the six-year-old could become a future Einstein regardless of superficial characteristics. While these two people may not actually be able to achieve their dreams, this does not mean they should be limited by what people perceive they are capable of. This is equality of perception.

Unlike equality of outcome, equality of perception creates equality of opportunity by dictating that all people should be allowed the same opportunities even if they aren’t capable of realizing them. This allows people to reach their own plateaus without unfair external pressures. However, when one attempts to use equality of outcome to create opportunity, one must take away opportunities from one person to give them to another, rather than allowing both individuals to reach their own, personal, peaks. This is not always a bad thing, during the civil rights era it was an important move to integrate America’s divided society; however, it was a first step, and only a first step. America must move beyond this first step to continue to answer its call as the “land of opportunity.”

Of course, many factors come into account throughout individual lives that change an individual’s capacity for different activities. Equality of perception requires that one realize the way we perceive people based on bias should not limit their opportunities because it does not reflect their abilities. This means that with equality of perception no human being is artificially kept from achieving their goals based on skin color, religion, national origin, or class. Equality of perception cannot be legislated, it can only be taught, but it will create freedom and lead the way to equality of opportunity, but focusing on equality of outcome just limits the freedoms upon which America was founded.

Equality is not saying that all people are totally physically and mentally equal, no “sane” person would bet against a professional basketball player in a one-on-one against a toddler, nor would anyone say that Einstein has the same mental capacity of the average six year old. True equality instead says that potentially everyone has the same capabilities, that is to say that potentially the toddler could play professional basketball and potentially the six year old could become a future Einstein. This is regardless of the toddler being Asian and the six year old being black they still have the same potential as any other child. However this does not mean that although all people have the potential to become Einstein does not mean they all have the capacity to. Many factors come into account through out individual lives which change an individuals capacity for different activities. In the same way Downs Syndrome could prevent the toddler from becoming a physicist, a bad knee could just as easily stop the six year old from playing basketball. True equality in this respect is realizing that just because someone does not have the capacity to be a certain way does not make them less than the people around them, however this does not mean that the people around them should be required to live up to less than their full potential to make it so everyone is “equal.”

Frequently black slaves of the south and for many years afterwards blacks were thought of as unintelligent, however this is not because of some “animal features” as many white supremacists of the day would claim, nor is it because blacks are naturally made for slavery rather it was because the quality of education available to the blacks was lower than that of the whites. This still continues today, students from poorer schools who have disproportionately large number of “minority” students have a tendency to score lower on tests. This does not mean these students do not have the same potential nor do they have a diminished capacity for learning instead it just means that the quality of the learning experience is less than what is available in more wealthy areas.

True equality is realizing that just because the government says you have to treat everyone the same does not make everyone equal. True equality is realizing that just because the parents of a child are one way or another it does not limit what the child can become. True equality is realizing that although not all people are the same they can potentially be so under different circumstances. True equality is in realizing that skin color, religion or national origin has no effect on what a person can potentially be.