Jonathan Kozol's Savage Inequalities: Children in America’s Schools

Jonathan Kozol's Savage Inequalities: Children in America’s Schools

In this detailed and shocking book, Jonathan Kozol describes the horrific and unjust conditions in which many children in today’s society are forced to get their education. Kozol discusses three major reasons for the discrepancies in America’s schools today: disparities of property taxes, racism, and the conflict between state and local control. The first of these reasons is that of the differences of available property tax revenues. Kozol discusses the inconsistencies in property tax revenues and the problem that the poorer districts aren’t getting the same opportunities for education as the more affluent neighborhoods. He says the reason for this is that the poorer districts don’t receive as much money as the affluent districts because their property isn’t worth as much, therefore they get less money in return. Therefore, if they demand more money for the school systems, they end up taxing themselves more money. Kozol uses shocking statistics to get the reader’s attention. For instance, a classroom in Chicago “received approximately $90,000 less each year than would have been spent on them if they were pupils of a school such as New Trier High” (54). Kozol also discusses a solution for this problem, the Foundation Program, which is meant to set a standard of basic or minimum education for the less fortunate neighborhoods. Although this program seems to work on the surface, it makes a bigger gap between the rich and poor districts.

Using descriptive details and scenarios, he informs the reader of the awful conditions these children attend school in. For example, he tells about a conversation with a little boy whose sister was raped and murdered, but the child cannot recall if this took place last week or last year. These children suffer many health problems, including terrible pain in their teeth from bad dental health. They are also subjected to dreadful amounts of sewage in their schools and in their backyards, contaminating the water and the soil. Kozol then describes the more affluent schools and the wonderful opportunities they are given. He contrasts the poor and rich schools to show the reader just how terrible these conditions are. He attempts to make the reader angry and succeeds many times.

One other way by which he attempts to irritate the reader i...

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...computers are nice to have, but are not essential in the learning process. Also, Kozol, in his racism argument, forgets that there is a chance the inequalities in education might not be so much racial segregation, but affluence segregation. True, a large percentage of the poor districts are black and Hispanic, but this is due to society itself, not necessarily the school systems. Kozol sometimes seems to be reaching for an argument just for the sake of having one.

On the other hand, a large portion of what Kozol says is well supported and highly effective. He is a very passionate writer and does a wonderful job of stating the facts, not just his side of the story. He uses conversations with the children and teachers to get the reader’s attention and make the reader understand that these are real people these things are happening to, not just numbers. Kozol is a very persuasive writer, with brilliant ideas and down-to-earth opinions. He doesn’t want his readers to be hateful towards the public school systems; he wants us to know the truth.

Works Cited:

Jonathan Kozol. Savage Inequalities: Children in America’s Schools. New York, Harper Collins, 1991. 262 pp.