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Sandy Lee

Dr. Thea Alvarado


Sociology 1
15 February 2015
Savage Inequalities Reading & Reflection
In the excerpt Savage Inequalities, by Jonathan Kozol, it
discusses the inequalities in education between schools. To examine
the US educational system, Kozol travels to different schools to see
how the schools are affected by money and wealth. He realizes that
the affects of money are greater than anyone would expect. Poor
schools have issues with their plumbing while richer schools offer
advanced placement classes for their students. These types of
disparities may not always be seen but they have an affect on the
students and their futures as seen in the paper.
In Irl Solomons history class, he defines the school as one of the
toughest place to teach. This is because many of the students lack
motivation or any promise for the future. For example, he states, four
girls are pregnant or have just had babies (Kozol). This type of
behavior exemplifies that they dont prioritize getting an education in
order to help with future employment. Instead, the girls dont believe
that there is any hope for them stating that a diploma from a ghetto
high school doesnt count for much in the United State today (Kozol).

Jennifer did not seem to pity the poor schools in the Bronx.
Instead, she sounded like she resented being brought up in such a poor
area. She states that her parents had uprooted from the Bronx in order
to provide her with a better education. However, instead of wanting to
give back to the poor school, she explains that anyone who lives in a
bad area would want to get out in order to get a better education. She
explicitly states that it has to be the people in the area who want an
education (Kozol) in order to proactively make a move.
The two schools compared in the excerpt are complete
opposites. The school in East St. Louis is consisted mainly of all black
students with mostly substitute teachers. Many science labs even lack
the minimal necessities such as pipes and water. In contrast, the
school in Rye, New York is set in a landscaped campus a new four
hundred thousand auditorium stands. The classrooms are smaller are
the entire school consists mainly of white students with only 1 or 2
percent black. They even offer many different foreign languages while
the Bronx school does not offer any.
In my own opinion, I feel that this article portrays the disparities
of education within different areas of the United States. Poor areas
such as St Louis cannot afford good teachers, school supplies nor even
funds to build necessary sewage systems. Furthermore, residents of
poor areas do not prioritize the importance of education as they are
not brought up to believe in it. Instead, the richer residents takes

advantage of their status in order to put more funds into the education
systems, to provide better programs for their children. This benefits
their children as they will get a better education and will most likely
result in them attending college. I believe in the past 20 years, there
hasnt been much improvement for more equality in the school system.
For example, with the economic crisis and downturn in the economy in
2008, this has cut funds nationwide. But this has impacted the poorer
schools more severely as the small number teachers and programs
available at these programs are cut. Richer schools are affected as
well, but not to the extent as poor schools. This is because parents in
wealthier areas may have a heavier influence with the monetary funds
for their childrens schools.

Works Cited
Kozol, Jonathan. "31." Savage Inequalities: Children in America's
Schools. New York: Crown Pub., 1991. 329-37. Print.

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