Abstract
This theoretical article argues the innovative idea of using meditation for ethical edu- cation addressing the challenges of equity. Despite official values that include equa- lity, French schools are more socially discriminatory than schools in all of the other OECD countries. A similar contradiction between explicit values and implicit and effective values is found in the cognitive functioning of individuals. In particular, implicit attitudes unconsciously express cultural stereotypes by means of discrimi- natory behaviours through attentional biases. We therefore hypothesize that a source of the discrimination operating in schools is teachers’ unconscious identification with students considered “good”, and the unconscious labelling of students with aca- demic challenges as foreigners. Here, we propose that cognitive support for equity, the moral counterpart of equality, corresponds to equanimity, functioning without the implicit bias of preference or aversion. An ethical education aimed at equity should therefore allow the subjects to become aware of their functioning bias and to develop equanimity. A tool of choice for this type of training corresponds to the attentional training family, meditation, which we argue in a brief description of various types of meditation and a quick literature review on their effects. In perspec- tive, we outline the foundations that we believe essential to the curriculum of an ethi- cal education on equity.