SOC 001 Trisha Cease

Savage Inequalities Reading & Reflection

Savage Inequalities: Children in Americas Schools is a book written by researcher

Jonathan Kozol in 1991, where he retails his experience traveling across the country and

comparing the various public school systems he finds. In his accounts, Kozol notes the drastic

disparities between public schools funded by wealthy communities and those funded by poorer

communities. Kozol profiles the different types of populations that are characteristic to the

different communities and analyzes how their community affects the quality of their education,

and furthermore the futures of the children.

In Chapter 31 of his book, Kozol contrasts the public school systems of East St. Louis,

Illinois and Rye, New York. To visitors, East St. Louis is like another world apart from America.

The city seems to be set in a third-world country. Described as the most distressed small city in

America by the federal government, East St. Louis has few jobs and is filled with garbage. The

air in the city is filled with fumes that come from chemical plants, making asthma a prevalent

issue amongst its residents. All throughout the city raw sewage and filth can be seen on the

streets spilling and spreading. In some areas the sewage is even on fire. The city is in a severe

destitute state.

According to Kozol, the problems of the city literally poor into the school systems. In the

school district consisting of 16,500 students, there are only the Martin Luther King Junior High

School and East St. Louis High School. Both are stricken with endless difficulties. Sewage

backups are a commonality. The schools are both seriously underfunded. More and more

teachers and staff are laid off while the classroom sizes are growing. The majority of the classes

themselves cannot be seriously considered as academic classes due to the lack of funding for
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essential classroom supplies. The laboratories, vocational classes, and even sports programs all

lack the supplies needed to function and teach the students.

Irl Solomon is the history teacher in East St. Louis high school. In his homeroom classes

there are teenage pregnant girls and some have already given birth. When these girls were asked

why they made this decision, they answered saying there was nothing stopping them from having

children. To them the public school offered no worthwhile future for them, which is true because

even if they did manage to earn a diploma, there wouldnt be much they could do with a diploma

from a ghetto high school. These accounts highlight how bad the conditions in East St. Louis

have become.

Going on to the other spectrum of public schools, Kozol travels to Rye, New York, a

wealthy neighborhood predominated by whites. Before he even steps on campus it is already

evident that this school is drastically different than East St. Louis. The building is made of gray

stone, the campus is landscaped and well kept, the auditorium has recently been renovated, and

the student lounges and libraries are well decorated. Students in this high school are offered a

wide variety of classes to take, and many even take on prestigious AP classes. When Kozol

interviews the students, he finds them all to be well educated and know easily answer is

intellectual questions.

One student named Jennifer was not born into the community. Her family moved there

from the Bronx for a better education. When Kozol interviews Jennifer about how the wealthier

communities should help those struggling, he finds that Jennifer does not believe that her taxes

should go to helping residents in poorer communities like that which she moved from. Her

attitudes prioritize her needs above others. Jennifer believes that residents in the Bronx and other

similar areas need to want a better life for themselves and do something about it.
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After reading these excerpts written by Kozol, I have come to realize how far weve

improved as a society. This book was written over 20 years ago, and I believe that conditions

have improved. Our federal government has become more involved in the funding of educational

systems across the country. Rather than the state taking on the brunt of the financing, the federal

government has increased its educational spending. The third-world-like conditions found in East

St. Louis have been amended. But this is not to say that the disparities in our countrys

educational system have been eradicated. Public schooling dzisctrics are still funded by the taxes

of the community. If a community is impoverish, you can expect the public schools there to be

struggling also. If we are to move our society forward as a whole, we cannot leave those in the

bottom classes behind. Those in the upper classes most lift up those in need.