The Logical, Emotional, And Credible Evaluation Of `` Still Separate, Still Unequal ``

As we first take a look at the frightening statistics Kozol provides, this claim of segregation becomes so much more real. As evidenced in the text, the vast majority of enrollment in most of the public schools in our major cities is black or Hispanic: 79%

“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

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

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.

The educational system of the united states is not capitalizing on the full potential of its people. Jonathan Kozol in his article “Still Separate, Still Unequal: America’s Educational Apartheid”, discusses the drastic difference in the quality of education based on a family’s income. Kozol discusses how economic disparities usually coincide with race, but focuses on the economic gap of education. Malcolm Gladwell’s podcast “Carlos doesn’t remember”, gives a story and a personal touch, to the issues low income students face. Kozol writing and Gladwell’s podcast, both show that the quality of a child’s education is pure chance. A lottery of being born into a high or low income family dictates the outcome and capitalization of a child’s future.

Introduction: As a well accomplished writer, activist, and educator, Jonathan Kozol has devoted his life to the challenge of providing equal education to every child in our public schools.

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

The character of a nation can be discovered or disclosed in the way that it treats its indigenous population, I have chosen Japan and Australia for my comparison and will be giving a brief summary about the Japanese Ainu People and the Australian Aborigines, their histories as we know them and how they have been treated by the peoples that have taken over the lands to which they themselves had laid claim as their own thousands of years beforehand.

In chapter two, Kozol elaborates on the contrasts between private schools of North Lawndale and Southern Chicago compared to public schools. Much detail is given about the unequal privilege that students in suburban school districts have over students in public school districts. He speaks about the underlying racial prejudice that members of the white community and government have against the black students in many of Chicago’s public schools. There is a taboo associated with giving money to black students. Even the own Governor of Chicago was quoted on page 53 saying, “We can’t keep throwing money into a black hole.” While this may not have been intended as a slur, race is never far from the surface, explains the Chicago Tribune. The yearly spending on public schools from state, local, and federal funds is approximately 90,000 less than the spending on private suburban schools. Much of the funding for public schools comes from tax on local property. Therefore, poorer inner-city communities have remarkably lower

Martin Luther once said, “When schools flourish, all flourishes.” Schools are the institutions where students’ foundations for lifelong success are built. One would think, or at least hope, that sixty years after the Brown v. Board of Education decision, all schools in America would be flourishing or near flourishing. How wonderful would it be, if politicians and other people in power realized how true Martin Luther’s words were. Unfortunately, this is not the case. As Jonathan Kozol explicitly depicts in his 1991 novel, Savage Inequalities, inequality in American public schools still exists despite segregation being outlawed. Even though this book was written twenty-five years ago, it still applies to this day. There are many schools in America that are still segregated, and the complete opposite of flourishing. This is due to one main reason: inadequate funding. There is a tremendous amount of inequality in funding between the poor, city schools, and the affluent, suburban schools. Kozol explores these various schools in his novel, and demonstrates how by underfunding schools that are in dire need of funds, we are essentially setting up our future generations for failure. We are inhibiting them from reaching their potentials and showcasing their talents. We ourselves are ripping their chances of a bright future out of their hands. We are allowing our society to believe segregation in schools is ok.

The concern of equal school funding has always been an issue, "Nearly half of the funding for public schools in the United States, is provided through local taxes, generating large differences in funding between wealthy and impoverished communities" (Biddle, Berliner). What is the solution to this problem? Every child is entitled to an adequate education but how do we accomplish this? In a way this has created a form of segregation, "While migrant, low income, and inner city urban families are entrapped in lower-funded schools because of low property values in those areas, the demographic of students becomes increasingly homogenous, and more affluent families move to better communities with better schools and more resources, creating an urban-migrant dilemma in