Analysis Of Gross Socio-Economic Inequities In Public Education

In his essay “Still Separate, Still Unequal: America’s Educational Apartheid,” Jonathan Kozol brings our attention to the apparent growing trend of racial segregation within America’s urban and inner-city schools (309-310). Kozol provides several supporting factors to his claim stemming from his research and observations of different school environments, its teachers and students, and personal conversations with those teachers and students.

“Still Separate, Still Unequal”, written by Jonathan Kozol, describes the reality of urban public schools and the isolation and segregation the students there face today. Jonathan Kozol illustrates the grim reality of the inequality that African American and Hispanic children face within todays public education system. In this essay, Kozol shows the reader, with alarming statistics and percentages, just how segregated Americas urban schools have become. He also brings light to the fact that suburban schools, with predominantly white students, are given far better funding and a much higher quality education, than the poverty stricken schools of the urban neighborhoods.

America’s school system and student population remains segregated, by race and class. The inequalities that exist in schools today result from more than just poorly managed schools; they reflect the racial and socioeconomic inequities of society as a whole. Most of the problems of schools boil down to either racism in and outside the school or financial disparity between wealthy and poor school districts. Because schools receive funding through local property taxes, low-income communities start at an economic disadvantage. Less funding means fewer resources, lower quality instruction and curricula, and little to no community involvement. Even when low-income schools manage to find adequate funding, the money doesn’t solve all the school’s

Kozol’s main argument is that public education should be free and equal to people of all economic classes. Kozol believes that children from poor families are cheated out of a future by unequipped, understaffed and under funded schools in the United State’s inner cities and less affluent suburbs. The majority of these children are non-white, and living amongst poverty and crime. Kozol argues about the unfair standards we expect these underprivileged children to rise to. Children in these poor areas are being compared to children in affluent areas where the quality of their education is much higher. Kozol asks how these children will succeed in today’s world if they are not given the same opportunities as affluent schools give their children. Kozol believes that by depriving our poorer children of their basic needs we are forcing them into lives of crime, poverty and a never-ending cycle of inequalities in education. Kozol stresses that these students must be taught that “savage inequalities” do not have to exist between them and students in more affluent schools, and that all children are entitled to an equal education.

Although the statistics are more than 10 years out of date, the reality of America school segregation has not changed. The barely functional buildings, lack of up to date text books (or in many cases any text books), overcrowded classes, non-existent lab and computer equipment, and low paid teachers create a situation of despair that leads to a drop out rate of more than 50% in many districts. And even those who graduate are often barely literate. Kozol draws the clear link between these schools and the imprisonment of the oppressed nations who, after dropping out of a dead end education, end up locked behind bars.

In the essay “Still Separate, Still Unequal” by Jonathan Kozol, the situation of racial segregation is refurbished with the author’s beliefs that minorities (i.e. African Americans or Hispanics) are being placed in poor conditions while the Caucasian majority is obtaining mi32 the funding. Given this, the author speaks out on a personal viewpoint, coupled with self-gathered statistics, to present a heartfelt argument that statistics give credibility to. Jonathan Kozol is asking for a change in this harmful isolation of students, which would incorporate more funding towards these underdeveloped schools. This calling is directed towards his audience of individuals who are interested in the topic of public education (seeing that this

Jonathon Kozol’s, “ The Shame of the Nation”, mainly covers the the discoveries of Jonathon Kozol of the discrimination and segregation that is still implemented today throughout schools in the United States, since the Supreme Court had tried to eradicate ruling of Brown v. Board of Education. Kozol travels a wide plethora of schools, where he records his findings, many troubling and of the apparent discrimination still experienced by minority school children in places like the Bronx. Essentially, this book was an eye opener to the average american. One would have never thought that the experiences Kozol was told by some of the children had talked about would ever have happened in an average public school.

Kozol argues that there is a “deterioration of classroom conditions and teaching practices” and that there are lines drawn by race deciding who gets a better education. He establishes ethos by giving specific examples and numbers to prove that he has researched what he is talking about and has the knowledge to report on this topic. He gives statistics of the racial profile of schools, in which the poorer, dirty, ill-supplied, and lower teaching standards had the majority of blacks and hispanics in their school system compared to the nicer schools with their students being predominantly white. He states that there are no words to express how “deeply isolated children in the poorest and most segregated sections of these cities have become” (Rereading America

Ultimately the lack of reliable resources and preparation from underfunded schools leads African American students into being unprepared for college and jobs, once again reinforcing a vicious cycle of poverty within the community. Gillian B. White, a senior associate editor at The Atlantic, wrote a chilling article regarding the systematic racism that is deeply embedded in the American school system. In the article The Data: Race Influences School Funding, White states “At a given poverty level, districts that have a higher proportion of white students get substantially higher funding than districts that have more minority students” (White). In this quote White explains the clear correlation of race and inadequate funding in the American school

The United States is a country based on equal opportunity; every citizen is to be given the same chance as another to succeed. This includes the government providing the opportunity of equal education to all children. All children are provided schools to attend. However, the quality of one school compared to another is undoubtedly unfair. Former teacher John Kozol, when being transferred to a new school, said, "The shock from going from one of the poorest schools to one of the wealthiest cannot be overstated (Kozol 2)." The education gap between higher and lower-income schools is obvious: therefore, the United States is making the effort to provide an equal education with questionable results.

Savage Inequalities by Jonathan Kozol explains the inequalities of school systems in different poor neighborhoods. Kozol was originally a teacher in a public school in Boston. This school didn’t have very many resources and was unable to keep teachers for very long. After pursuing other interests, Kozol took the time from 1988-1990 to meet with children and teachers in several different neighborhoods to better understand issues relating to the inequality and segregation in the school systems. Kozol writes from his own perspective as he visits six different cities and the poorest schools in those cities. These cities consist of East St. Louis in Illinois, the South Side of Chicago in Illinois, New York City, Camden in New Jersey, Washington

Janelle Scott and Rand Quinn examine the racial politics of education in the six decades Post-Brown Era in their article, “The Politics of Education in the Post-Brown Era: Race, Markets, and the Struggle for Equitable Schooling”. The authors analyze market reform trends and how they are being justified by those within the school system. San Francisco and Philadelphia are the two cities being focused on and how market trends are affecting the schools and its children. Racial, Linguistic and socioeconomic segregation in public education are being observed within these cities. As the authors did their research they

Racism Hypo Parents Opposed to Income- based Assignments v. The Centerville School Board. I. Introduction The issue of educational policy reform has been a lengthy debate for years amongst various social justice groups, educators, community members and school board officials. Varying State Laws on school assignment and socioeconomic placement of students in public schooling has been a complex issue for the district school boards and state government to address the resource gap of under privileged

Education inequality started in 1635 with the Boston Latin School, which was the first school in America. Educational inequality “generally boils down to the fact that children of less-educated, low-income families are less prepared for school and attend schools that are not as financially equipped to remediate that shortcoming”(Marquis). It affects everyone. Jonathan Kozol is an educator, writer, and activist for American education. He studied terrible cases of inequality. Justin Marquis states that “a December 2001 report by the U.S. Department of Education indicates that the inequality in our schools may be far more extensive than even Kozol would believe” (Marquis).

have been a problematic enforcement of disparity. This continues to promote the ideas of racism, segregation, and social class by isolating schools based off the income and having certain limitations due to ethnicity. In order to change the things for the better, we must bring awareness to this problem and work towards equal funding of schools. Mickelson and Smith state “There is a strong relationship between race and social class, and racial isolation is often an outgrowth of residential segregation and socioeconomic background” (Mickelson and smith 2011)