By Sierrah Chavis
If you’ve ever done any research on the terms “equity” or “equality,” you might have come across the illustrations by Tony Ruth (based on Shel Silverstein’s The Giving Tree), which each depict an apple tree and two young children standing below it. The first image shows the children waiting to collect the apples that fall, but the tree is slightly inclined to the left, so all of the apples are falling on that side and only one boy can collect them. This represents the idea of “inequality.”
Sierrah Chavis is currently the Chief of Staff for ChildSavers, a mental health agency for children, prior to which she was an educational leader for 10 years, fulfilling roles of curriculum specialist administrator, teacher, and special education case manager. She is the recipient of an Impact Leader Award from the Virginia Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development.
