Savage Inequalities Analysis

In this paper, I will explore the aspects regarding racial inequality pertaining to education in the United States of America. It has come to my attention, based on my observations, that race is a definitive factor that plays a role in establishing socioeconomic status. In relation to socioeconomic status, variables correlating with race that I will be focusing on, is the educational and wealth aspects. An individual’s level of education is pivotal to establishing stable, consistent wealth and vice-versa; the access for quality education is inconsistent primarily among minority races/ethnicities. According to historical records ranging from the year 1980 to 2000, between Whites, Hispanics, African-Americans, and Native Americans, the educational attainment gap is widening (Kelly 2005). Education is seen to be a source of respect and key to gaining a higher income, which transfers over to greater wealth. Acknowledging the slow expansion of the educational attainment disparities, I argue that the society’s perceptions and actions addressing race perpetuates and produces social inequalities by limiting opportunities despite “equal” resources, privileges, and rights through social policies that have contributed towards the quality of America’s education system.

     In Savage Inequalities, Jonathan Kozol documents the devastating inequalities in American schools, focusing on public education’s “savage inequalities” between affluent districts and poor districts. From 1988 till 1990, Kozol visited schools in over thirty neighborhoods, including East St. Louis, the Bronx, Chicago, Harlem, Jersey City, and San Antonio. Kozol describes horrifying conditions in these schools. He spends a chapter on each area, and provides a description of the city and a historical basis for the impoverished state of its school. These schools, usually in high crime areas, lack the most basic needs. Kozol creates a scene of rooms without heat, few supplies or text, labs with no

In Savage Inequalities, Jonathan Kozol describes the conditions of several of America's public schools. Kozol visited schools in neighborhoods and found that there was a wide disparity in the conditions between the schools in the poorest inner-city communities and schools in the wealthier suburban communities. How can there be such huge differences within the public school system of a country, which claims to provide equal opportunity for all? It becomes obvious to Kozol that many poor children begin their young lives with an education that is far inferior to that of the children who grow up in wealthier communities. Savage Inequalities provides strong evidence of the national

Kozol says that magnet schools (special public schools built for the most talented students) seem like a good idea, but are also unfair. The inner city disadvantaged non-white students usually don’t provide head start programs or educated parents who can help them push for admittance. Students of magnet schools are mostly white. Disadvantaged students watch television and know they are being treated like something less than human. This is savagely cruel.

Due to the discrimination of African-Americans, and oppression resulting from it, the government, justice system, educational system, and society has made it clear that African-American teenagers obtaining a thorough and effective education is the least of their concerns. It is almost as though African-American teenagers are purposely being set up to fail. As stated in “The Oppression of Black People, The Crimes of This System and the Revolution we need”, “Today the schools are more segregated than they have been since the 1960s with urban, predominantly Black and Latino schools receiving fewer resources and set up to fail. These schools more and more resemble prisons

For my Argumentative Essay “Modern Day Re-Segregation in Today’s Schools”, I will be addressing Professor Kelly Bradford and my fellow students of Ivy Tech online English Composition 111-54H. As I chose Martin Luther King’s “Letter from A Birmingham Jail” as my core reading topic, I have gained an interest in not only the fight for civil rights that Mr. King lead in the 1950’s but have gotten interested in how there is still a large gap in equality in education due to the current situation of not only educational segregation but social and economic segregation. Through my research I have discovered that not only segregation in the schools is on the rise, but that socioeconomic segregation exists and is fueling the decrease in academic success by impoverished students. Through my writing I want to demonstrate that the socioeconomic isolation and segregation not only affects those that are directly bound by it, but that it affects every American in some form or other. I am submitting my writing as a formal academic manuscript.

Jonathan Kozol, Savage Inequalities: Children in America’s Schools is an intense expose of unjust conditions in educating America’s children. Today’s society of living conditions, poverty, income, desegregation and political issues have forced inadequate education to many children across the country. Kozol discusses major reasons for discrepancies in schools: disparities of property taxes, racism and the conflict between state and local control. Kozol traveled to public schools researching conditions and the level of education in each school. He spoke with teachers, students, principals, superintendents and government officials to portray a clear picture of the

The education system in Bayonne was also far from ideal, and Gaines shows the injustices Black children face versus their white peers. The students are forced to get down on their knees to use the benches as desks or do their work in their laps (36). The students are so incredibly disadvantaged that they do not even have desks to write on to do their work, whereas the White children presumably have a well furnished school. This clear distinction between children’s’ learning environments shows just how bad the racism in Bayonne truly was. They are merely innocent children and they are already treated differently from their white peers. Gaines describes Grant’s class to show readers the circumstances of the Black community in comparison to the White school district. Additionally, the school year, according to Grant is only,” five months, and when the children are not needed in the field” (36). Even though slavery had been abolished almost a century prior, the Black children were still deprived of a proper education due to the field work that they were forced to complete. Grant also has to attempt to ration his supplies, because the school board does not give him an adequate amount for the year and at one point tells a

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

Two articles, The Facts about the Achievement Gap by Diane Ravitch and From Still Separate, Still Unequal: America’s Educational Apartheid by Jonathan Kozol, provide facts about the crumbling education system in the inner cities of America. Schools there have shown to be segregated, poorly staffed, and underfunded. While the theme of both articles may be educational shortcomings, the content is surrounded by discussions of segregation. There are more underlying factors the authors are missing. Readers need to be rallied together in a unilateral cause to identify the issues affecting the nation’s education system, segregation is not one of them.

Societal issues have plagued humanity since the beginning of society’s existence, yet few efforts seem to be made to stop the root of the issues. The first step to solving the major issues of society is educating the general public and having an understanding of what is happening. Literature provides an insight into the ways in which people are marginalized, silenced, and oppressed and by reading these texts people gain knowledge that allows them to do something about the problem. Savage Inequalities: Children in America’s Schools details the situations and circumstances that the author, Jonathan Kozol, experienced during the time he spent traveling through struggling schools in some of the poorest areas of the United States of America.

Kovol wrote Savage Inequalities in 1991. Although his theory has since been elevated by many other writers, Park and Lynn (2002) correlates the same theory and give Kovol an update within their special issue titled Critical Race Theory and Qualitative Research. “We not only reflect on the role and status of qualitative research in the lives of people of color but also examine the ways critical race theory (CRT)—a legal theory of race and racism designed to uncover how race and racism operate in the law and in society—can be used as a tool through which to define, expose, and address educational problems” (p.

Throughout America’s past, racial inequality has been a reoccurring theme in our society. Ever since the Europeans invaded America the white man has been superior compared to all ethnicities. No more than two hundred years ago, African Americans were slaves and only counted as three fifths of a person. Within the past hundred years African Americans have managed to obtain more equality in some situations, but in other cases racial inequality has become worse than it was when segregation took place. The gaps between the quality of education of white and black students receive appears to be growing instead of shrinking. The lack of quality education blacks receive has contributed to significant health differences between

Where a person lives, can influence their life’s trajectory. Accesses to quality education and opportunities are determined by zip code. As I think about the access and opportunity gap, my thoughts often return to my high school graduation in June 1991. Experiencing childhood in Wellston, Missouri, a segregated, poverty-stricken community in Saint Louis, the importance of education was instilled at an early age. Watching television was not permitted while my mother was at work. Instead, books from libraries and secondhand shops were our source of entertainment. I cannot tell you how many times I read Roots and Gone with the Wind. In the 1960s, my mother was the only one out of our immediate family to graduate high school. Eventually, she gained a secretarial certificate to work on an army base. Having a secretarial certificate allowed her to uproot her family from Wellston before the school district lost its accreditation. After moving from school to school, we finally settled in my junior year in a middle class community that looked like us. The architecture of this school resembled a shopping mall with vast resources for students. Mathematics and science became my obsession, and I immersed myself in this new community, taking part in various clubs, learning, inventing and experimenting. Crossing the graduation stage, I recall visiting my guidance counselor’s office the day, Dr. Keener Tippin introduced himself. This towering man explained he was there to

Where we live makes a big difference in our quality of life. Access to quality education and opportunities is based on zip code which divides us all. I am reminded of the access and opportunity gap when I reflect on my high school graduation in June 1991. Growing up in Wellston, Missouri, one of the most segregated, poverty stricken areas in Saint Louis, the importance of education was instilled at an early age. I did not understand why watching television was forbidden when my mother was not at home. Instead, books from libraries and secondhand shops were my source of entertainment. I cannot tell you how many times I read Roots, Gone with the Wind and numerous science mystery novels. But that graduation day, it all made sense. My mother graduated from high school and gained a secretarial certificate to work on a US Army base. Whereas my aunts and uncles did not graduate high school nor did my grandmother. We left Wellston before the school district lost its accreditation. After moving from school to school, we finally settled. I was in my junior year, the sixth high school that my siblings and I attended. We were surrounded by middle and upper class families that looked like us. Mathematics and science became my obsession and I immersed myself in this new community, taking part in various clubs, learning, inventing and experimenting. I walked into my guidance counselor’s office as I did many times that year. But this time it was different since a visitor was