Still Separate Still Unequal Summary

A Race to the Finish Line

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

are mostly white and have the best of everything. Also in “from Social Class and the Hidden Curriculum of Work” by Jean Anyon a professor in the Doctoral Program in Urban Education at The Graduate Center of The City University of New York, and a civil rights and social activist, she focus in the curriculum that was being taught depending in what social class the students where in; She observed five different schools in different social class. The first two where called the working class schools, the third school is called the middle class school, the fourth school was called affluent professional school, and the last one was called executive elite school. In each school Anyon describes what was taught to student and how. What social class students belong to and what kind of work students where being prepare for. Even though some believe that we have an equal educational system. Students do not have equal opportunities to achieve in our current educational system because the curriculum is not the same, funding is not equal, and school conditions differ from locations.
While many agree that the school system is unequal there are some who put forward the idea that grit is what a student need to succeed no matter what the circumstance may be.

In Ted Talk, “Grit: The power of passion and perseverance” Angela Lee Duckworth a professor of Psychology at the university Of Pennsylvania Spoke how grit scale can let student know how gritty they are. Duckworth argues, “ Grit is passion and perseverance for very long term goals. Grit is having stamina. Grit is sticking with your future, day in, day out, not just for the week, not just for the month, but for years, and working really hard to make that future a reality. Grit is living life like it’s a marathon, not a sprint”(75). According to Duckworth students can succeed no matter the circumstance the student may be in. They just need to focus on their goal and do what is needed to reach it. It makes sense to believe that if students are struggling because of the inequalities if they are gritty enough they can over come it all by just focusing on their goal. However, Duckworth leaves out that more is needed to reach that goal which means that having grit is not enough. In the end, the logic of having grit will close the gap in education between social classes is outrageous the only way that would be true if every school was created equal and all students have the same

education.
The curriculum that is taught in schools depend where the school is located and the social class of the neighborhood, which affect students because it is program to prepare students for a certain job. School curriculum prepares students for jobs most likely like the ones their parent has. They limit students to achieve much in their education and this is true especially in the working class schools, students are being lead to a certain agenda. In Still Separate, Still Unequal, Kozol writes about a student named Mireya “ Mireya for example who had plans to go to college, told me that she had to take a sewing class last year and now was told she’d been assigned to take a class in hairdressing as well”(253). This tells me that even though Mireya has plans to go to college the school she attends does little or nothing to prepare her to go to college. Instead prepare her for a job she sure can get with just a high school diploma. Now if she went to another school in better location she would have been able to take an AP class to help her get in to college. In Anyon article “Social Class and the Hidden Curriculum of Work” fifth grade students in the working class their teacher have a very tight and controlled environment. For example, “In the two working-class schools, work is following the steps of a procedure. The procedure is usually mechanical, involving rote behavior and very little decision-making or choice. The teachers rarely explain why the work is being assigned, how it might connect to other assignments, or what the idea is that lies behind the procedure or gives it coherence and perhaps meaning or significance “(3). This example from this school shows student have no control of their education, and it seems they are being prepare for a blue-collar job. Mainly student are being trained to follow rules and do as they are told. Creativity and how to think for them selves don’t really exist in these schools. Part of the problem is how funding is distributed among schools.
School funding differs between inner cities public schools and suburban area public schools; this affect student with the quality of materials, staffing, and extra curricular activities, and so much more. Schools in the inner cities (the working class) don’t get much funding comparing to the schools in the urban areas. For example Kozol explains, “Around the time I met Alliyah in the school year 1997-1998, New York’s Board of Education spent about $8,000 yearly on the education of a third-grade child in a New York City public school. If you could have scooped Alliyah up out of the neighborhood where she was born and plunked her down in a fairly typical white suburb of New York, she would have received a public education worth about $12,000 a year. If you were to lift her up once more and set her down in one of the wealthiest white suburb of New York, she would have received as much as $18,000 worth of public education every year” (245). This is significant to understand that the funds are not distributed equal through all the schools. Which means the poorest school don’t get enough funding to have an art or music programs, or replace chairs, desks, etc. And how much the Board of education spends on each student a year really depends where the school is located and the social class the school is serving. Another way school funding has affect students through the years is the art and music programs and in school doctors that students had back in 1969. Kozol said, “‘When I began to teach in1969,’ the principal of an elementary school in the South Bronx reported to me, ‘every school had a full time licensed art and music teacher and librarian,’ During the subsequent decades, he recalled, ‘ I saw all of that destroyed. School physicians also were removed from elementary school during these years” (244). These programs that no longer exists affect students because it was a way for them to express theirs creativity or go look for a book of their choosing. Also not having a school physician affected children because not many can afford health care. This only a couple of things that affect student when their school do not receive much funding due to the indifference the board of education has with student in different social classes.
The amount of funding affects school conditions and differs from location if they’re in inner cities or suburb rich areas, which affects students how they feel about their teaching and learning environments. Public school in inner cities don’t receive much funding so that leaves not much money to maintain school from their wear tear over the years of serving many students. Kozol mention, “ I had made repeated visits to a high school where a stream of water flowed down one of the main stairwells on a rainy afternoon and where green fungus molds were growing in the office where the students went for counseling”(244). This gives an idea of how some school condition are so bad because the lack of funding from the board of education and the students suffer from this. They spend most of their time in these conditions and they have to adapt to this kind of conditions. It’s very sad that in this country students are going to school in this conditions and the government is doing nothing to improve the situation. Another example Kozol mention was, “ The school’s maintenance records report that rats were found in eleven classrooms. Rat droppings were founds ‘in the bins and drawers’ of the high school’s kitchen, and school records note that ‘hamburger buns’ were being ‘eaten off the bread delivery rack” (252). The importance here lies in the fact that these children are put through such horrible conditions because of the poor funding schools received and are limited to do much to help the situation. As a parent myself I would be very concern and would get as much parents possible to have our voices heard to school district or however to get the rat problem fix. Is alarming to know some kids have to be in these school conditions.
It makes sense that some believe that if students are gritty then any student can succeed in any circumstance they may be facing. But making school curriculum equal for all students to receive the best the board of education can offer will make student that want to prep to go to college more reachable. Having equal funding in all school, and improving school conditions are some of many that needs to change in order for our children to have a fair start in their education. Also educating parents, and caregivers of the circumstances some school deal with can help to push for change. We as parents are the voices of our children and we have the right to demand change for the future of this country.