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Jonathan Kozol is an American writer from Boston, Massachusetts, and a graduate of Harvard University. He began his career as a teacher in the Boston school system and also became involved in the study of social psychology. This lead to his involvement as an activist for low income and poverty destined children who are not provided the means for a proper education. The essay “Still Separate, Still Unequal”, by Jonathan Kozol, discusses the reality of inner-city public school systems, and the isolation and segregation of inequality that students are subjected to; as a result, to receive an education. Throughout the essay, Kozol proves evidence of the inequality that African American and Hispanic children face in the current school systems. …show more content…
For example, the emotion is felt when Kozol speaks to a student from a New York, Bronx high school, “Think of it this way,” said a sixteen-year-old girl. “If people in New York woke up one day and learned that we were gone…how would they feel? Then when asking how she thought the people of New York would feel she replied, “I think they’d be relieved” (Kozol 205). By mentioning the thoughts and emotions of individuals involved with the issues of school system segregation and inequality his reader cannot help but develop a feeling of empathy for children that feel as if no one cares about them and their issue. Kozol also uses pathos effectively by reading letters to his reader he received from young elementary school children that are not afforded the same amenities as other children in wealthier school systems, amenities such as toilet paper or the appropriate amount of restrooms. Which causes students to hold the urge to relieve themselves out of fear of being late for class (Kozol 214). With the proper use of pathos, Kozol places the reader in the same situation and assistances the reader with an understanding of his reason for conveying a concern to help children in this unfortunate situation. Another example of Pathos is when he speaks of the letters that came from third-grade children asking for help with getting them better things. He mentions a letter that had the most affected on him that came from a girl named Elizabeth, “It is not fair that other kids have a garden and new things. But we don’t have that.” (Kozol 206). This example being only one example of the few things mentioned in the letter. The tone of the little girl from when Kozol reads gives a pitiful and sad feeling. By stating this, it acts on the reader’s emotional state which creates a sense of wanting to resolve the problem of
Quindlen uses pathos in her essay to appeal to the emotions of her readers. She states that “some kids don’t get enough to eat, no matter what people tell themselves” (P5) to show that people just don’t believe in child hunger in America. She explains that one way you can help is to just know about it which causes people to want to learn more about and find ways to help. This whole essay is appealing to the reader by making them actually want to learn more about child hunger as a way to solve the problem. Readers feel a sense of obligation to these families who are struggling to make ends meet and that’s what the goal of the essay is. Another way Quindlen appeals to
Savage Inequalities by Jonathan Kozol is an account of his travels to East St. Louis, Illinois; North Lawndale and the south side of Chicago; New York, New York; Camden, New Jersey; Washington, D.C.; San Antonio, Texas; and Cincinnati, Ohio, researching their school systems. Kozol’s book exposes the glaring inequalities present in these cities. Kozol devotes a chapter to each of these cities—with the exception of San Antonio and Cincinnati—identifying the inequalities children there face. His statistics expose these shocking injustices perpetrated by the powerful. The truths Kozol uncovers in Savage Inequalities challenge anyone’s misconceptions about equality in the United States.
Savage Inequalities written by Jonathan Kozol allows individuals to understand the conditions of several public schools in America. Kozol visited many school in approximately thirty neighborhoods between the years of 1988 and 1990. During his visits he found that there was a wide difference in the conditions between the schools in poor internal city communities and schools in the wealthier communities. It becomes clear that there is a huge contrast within the public school system of a country which claims to provide equal opportunity for all. Many children in wealthier communities begin their lives with an education that is far more advanced than children in poor communities. Therefore the lack in equal opportunity from the start is created.
For example, Yousafzai speaks about girls and boys education because "... they are suffering the most" (Eleven). Using the word "suffering" draws emotion from the listeners or readers. This is using pathos because it is evoking emotion. In addition, Yousafzai shows that “... innocent and poor children are victims of child labor,” (Ten) instead of getting an education. Saying that the children are innocent and poor brings out emotion, evoking pathos. This adds to her claim by making education sound even more important. Pathos is used to evoke emotion from the audience about her claim.
In Jonathan Kozol’s essay titled, “From Still Separate, Still Unequal: America’s Educational Apartheid,” Kozol touches on how racial segregation has not disappeared in big cities’ urban public school systems. In this essay we can see how both types of judgements; racial and academic come together to form a stereotype about intellectual success in our current educational system. On the other hand, he brings to our attention that it is the American citizen’s common belief that racial segregation in public schools doesn’t exist anymore. In Kozol’s work he discusses various schools in major cities he has visited and offers the reader personal anecdotes from interviews with students. One quote from a student that I found remarkably interesting is “we do not have the things you have. You have clean things. We do not have. You have a clean bathroom. We do not have that. You have Parks and we do not have Parks. You have all the thing and we do not have all the thing. Can you help us?” (Kozol). This little girl is begging and reaching out to a white man because she thinks that he can help her. I am curious as to why she thinks that white schools have more than children at her school and if this is from first hand experience or from hearing from others. Does she think this way because her school demographics are composed mostly of one race? More importantly, I hope that someone did not teach her to think that
Children who are deemed poor, do not receive nearly as many educational opportunities as children who are deemed rich. Kozol acknowledges that poor children barely have any social skills, which will help them in Kindergarten. In contrast, children who have been in preschool like programs since their toddler years, are more likely to develop social skills and have early-learning skills, like knowing how to hold a crayon. Children in all social classes, in the United States have to take the same standardized tests and are measured on the same grading scale. Kozol questions, “Which of these children will receive the highest scores?”(Kozol 413) Sadly, poor children will not be the ones with the highest score, and they will be held accountable for their test scores, as Kozol points out “There is something deeply hypocritical about a society that holds an eight year old inner city child “accountable” for robbing her of what they gave their own kids six or seven years earlier” (Kozol 413). It is unfair to expect a child to perform on a test equally with other children who started their education earlier. Kozol mentions that some people, who are well-educated, feel that money is not a problem with education inequality, and that other factors such as, “The values of the parents and the kids themselves must have a role in this as well-you know, housing, health conditions,
Pathos is a quality of an experience in life or a work of art that stirs up emotions of pity, sympathy, and sorrow. She uses this to connect to the people by bringing up her personal experiences in life. As shown in the speech, “My friends, we’ve come to Philadelphia- the birthplace of our nation- because what happened in this city 240 years ago still has something to teach us today” (Line 35-36).. Hillary says “my friends” as referring to the American people, she considers everyone as important and this causes people to feel good about themselves. Also, she uses allusion to show how the past still impacts our world today. Another device uses is point of view, “Teachers who change lives. Entrepreneurs who see possibilities in every problem. Mothers who lost children to violence and are building a movement to keep other kids safe” (Lines 104-106). The point of view is used in third person, and emphasizes her point that she is trying to make. This quotes is also pathos, she is connecting to real people and what they go through in everyday life. Pathos is one appeal that touches the heart of general people.
The article I chose to research is entitled Cultural Code-Switching: Straddling the Achievement Gap by Jennifer Morton. It was published in September 2014 and placed in the journal of political philosophy, with regards to education as well. The goal of the article was to point out the inequality that comes with the educational achievement gap and how to begin to fix the issue that has arisen. Morton explains that political, institutional, and structural factors lead to the segregation of poverty in minority communities because of their lack of access to educational and health service, reliable public transportation, and job (Morton 275).
Elements. Kozol makes many points throughout his writing of Still Separate, Still Unequal, but I would like to point out three. One of Kozol’s main elements in this writing is that many people think that racial isolation is declining; on the contrary, he says, “The truth, unhappily, is that the trend, for well over a decade now, has been precisely the reverse.” He proceeds to provide statistics from inner-city schools that prove what he says. Most poor inner-city schools consist of only a small percentage of whites (if any). The white kids in those neighborhoods are more often than not attending a private school farther away, and this displays the racial divide. Many schools named after heroes of the Civil Rights Movement were expected to be
In conclusion, Kozal presented his article to make people aware of the social injustices in this country, resulting in inferior school environments, and poor educational structures, compared to wealthier/non-minority communities. Though it may seem to be unspoken, it's yet so clear that it's "Still Separate, Still Unequal.”
When I think about Education what comes to mind is a track field or the movie hunger games. The reason why is because my education has felt like a race to the finish line or having to survive the unfairness of the curriculum my schools have for me according to the social class of my parents. In “Still Separate, Still Unequal” by Jonathan Kozol an American writer, educator, and activist, best known for his books on public education in the U.S., explain in his article how schools are still segregated and unequal. His article describe the different school he visited and observed, how they differ from inner cities school districts which student where mostly underrepresented to school in urban areas where students
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 with schools boil down to either racism in and outside the school system 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.
Topics of race and inequality are critical topics we continue to debate everyday in America. My research synthesis paper is about school segregation, and I wanted to identify how and why schools continue to be racially and socioeconomically segregated today. I will use these questions, as well as knowledge gained from scholarly articles, as a platform for my analysis of school segregation and its implications for students and communities. So I wanted to discover if integration still matters, do our schools need to be desegregated, and if not, then how can our schools become diverse and effective. Racial segregation, segregation and systemic oppression doesn’t just start in one place. There is a structure in place that makes all of the discrimination
Meanwhile, as the pressure of schools losing their students due to dropout, it is important that the inner city students have the support they need in school or at home, because many years of oppression have kept African-Americans from having the will to do better. Now young African-Americans have that same oppressed feeling in the schools that they are attending. When the students give up it seems as though everyone around them wants to give up. In fact, “In many parts of the country, the problems present withi...
For decades, the United States educational system has provided opportunity for millions of Americans to attend school. However, the gap between the lower income and middle-class students continue to narrow in terms of who will drop out and who would succeed. The articles I chose speak both of issues regarding education and inequality and the growing gap of educational success between the haves and the have nots. In addition, how race and lower class play a large factor on those who succeed and those who do not.The articles also bring to life possible factors such as funding towards a child’s education, in particular the early years, parent involvement and race.