Scholarship Repository @ University of Massachusetts School of Law
Abstract
It is a tragic irony that a nation with enormous wealth will not provide the most basic of education rights to its citizens. Despite continual judicial and legislative measures to ensure access to education, or a facsimile thereof, no judicial or legislative body has taken the step to ensure that literacy is a fundamental right for the citizens of the United States. The issue has been, and continues to be, presented to both Congress and the courts. While Congress has passed legislation to some degree, both institutions have largely failed to ensure the population receives the fundamental right of literacy. There is not much pushback to the argument that education and literacy are important. But questions remain: How much education is necessary to claim that literacy is a right? Is literacy important enough to shine brightly on the national consciousness
