This contribution is concerned with the tradition and discussion of the “right to (school) education” formulated by the German Bundesverfassungsgericht (Federal Constitutional Court). Starting from the formulations of the human right to education in the French Revolution, it is shown how this right was always formulated only in the unity of equality and difference, even against an egalitarian perspective, on the basis of “elementary education” as an enabling of all further, separating, learning. Compulsory schooling and schooling in separative educational systems equally apply to all learners. Since the 20th century, the educational system has been the subject of political disputes about the equalization of educational disadvantages in the face of continuing inequality; in philosophy of education, the question of what constitutes educational justice and the fulfilment of the right to education is still controversial.

Schlagworte
right to education, general education, education system, basic education, educational justice