Savage Inequalities

“Savage Inequalities” Jonathan Kozol

Children In America’s SchoolsED 252

Carlos Amaya

Video of East St. Louis

Savage Inequalities

Savage Inequalities

Introduction

Savage Inequalities

Within Savage Inequalities• Kozol argues that America’s schools are more

segregated now then they were in 1954.• His points are based on two years ofobservations and interviews with students,teachers, and parents.• Shows how much work still needs to be done inpublic education in the U.S.

Savage Inequalities

His Journey 1988• Set off in 1988 for a two year journey visitedschools and spoke with children in about 30neighborhoods (Illinois, Washington D.C., NewYork, San Antonio, etc.)• In his travels he was shocked about how muchracial segregation still persists in the publicschools.

Savage Inequalities

Brown v. Board of Education• Kozol found that this supreme court decisionthat found segregated educationunconstitutional because it was inherentlyUnequal did not have much effect on the urbanschools he visited.• Schools were 95-99 percent non-white.• No school he saw in the US had nonwhitechildren in large amounts mixed with whitechildren.

Savage Inequalities

The Reality in East St. Louis 98 % of the population is black 75% are in welfare 1/3 of families earn $7500 per

year The city has one the highest rate

of child asthma in the U.S (Kozol p.7)

Underpaid teachers Lack of textbooks and supplies East St, Louis is a toxic dumping

ground Budget cutbacks and layoff of 280

teachers, 25 teacher aids, 166 cooks, and 16 custodians. (Kozol p.24)

Savage Inequalities

North Lawndale and South SideChicago, founding is based on property taxes.

North LawndaleWhere most black people

lives homes average value $68,000

Teachers salaries bellow $40,000

Money spent on each elementary student $2,900

Libraries average 13,000 volumes

High school dropout rates from 71 to 81%Counselor ratio 400 to one

South SideWhere white people lives

homes worth on average $400,000 in 1990, in 2010 $1.8 million.

Teachers salaries average above $60,000

Money spent on each elementary student $7,800

Libraries average 60,000 volumes

High school dropout rates 3%Counselor ratio 25 to one

Savage Inequalities

Public Education in New York“The contrast between public schools in each of these 2 neighborhoods is obvious to any visitor” (Kozol, 84).

Riverdale Northwest of Bronx

Home of the most sophisticated and well educated people live( mostly White)

South/ East side of Bronx

Most people who lives here are Black or Hispanic.

Savage Inequalities

Public Education in New YorkRiverdale Northwest of Bronx

South/ East side of Bronx

Expenditure per pupil from $11,000 -$15,000Most children at Riverdale

are white or Asian, if they are Hispanic or black they are usually placed in a “special” class.

The elementary school in Riverdale has windows that are decorated with attractive brightly colored curtains that look out on flowering trees.

Expenditure per student $5,500 This can not be compared to

some schools in the South side where there are no windows.

Footnote: Kozol mentions that if in N.Y city 90% 0f inmates are former school dropouts. The cost of yearly incarceration for each inmate is $60,000 far less that it would cost to provide a decent education to each student.

Savage Inequalities

Camden, New JerseyCamden (mostly Black and Hispanics)

Cherry hills ( White neighborhood)

The 4-poorest city of more than 50,000 people in the U.S

Its children have the highest rate of poverty in the U.S

Has 200 liquor stores, 180 gambling establishments, no movie theater, 1 chain supermarket.

“East Orange” high school, 99.9 Black students, 2000 students, no tract field, no weight room, and only 4 physical educators

Example of “ Mount Clair” high school, it has 1,900 students, with 4 gyms, outdoor/indoor tract field, weight rooms, wrestling rooms, 13 full-time physical educators

Savage Inequalities

Washington D.COne is the Washington

of cherry blossoms, the sparkling white monuments, the magisterial buildings of government…, of politics and power” (Kozol p. 181) Affluent neighborhoods Schools that receive more

money and resources.

Just a mile away, the other world is known as Anacostia.” (Kozol p. 181) Schools with very little

resources and money. Schools with holes in the walls

and ceilings. School flooding and rats in the

cafeteria.

Savage Inequalities

The Dream Deferred, Again, in San Antonio

“…a society in which a family’s wealth has no relation to the probability of future educational attainment and wealth and station it affords. By this standard, education offered to poor children should be at least as good as that which is provided to the children of the upper-middle class.” (Kozol p.207)

Savage Inequalities

San Antonio, TexasLocated in San Antonio,

Texas96% of students are

nonwhite.Edgewood’s residents pay

one the highest tax rates in the area.

Edgewood spent $231 for each student whereas, Alamo Heights, the richest section of the city, was able to spend $543 on each student. (Kozol, p. 214)

Savage Inequalities

A class Action SuitResident Demetrio Rodriguez and

other parents filed a class-action suit on behalf of their children.

“ A sample of 110 Texas districts at the time showed that ten wealthiest districts spent an

average of three times as much per pupil as the four poorest

districts…” (Kozol p. 214)

The federal district court in San Antonio ruled that Texas was in violation of the equal protection clause of the U.S. Constitution.

This was appealed and reversed

heights is a part of San Antonio but operates as a separate system.

Twenty-three years later…

Alamo Texas’s school funding system was found to be unconstitutional under state law.

Later the Supreme Court reversed the lower court’s decision.

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Conclusion“All of our children ought to be allowed

a stake in the enormous richness of America. Whether they were to poor white Appalachians or to wealthy Texans, to poor black people in the Bronx or to rich people in Manhasset or Winnetka, they are all quite wonderful and innocent when they are small. We soil them needlessly (Kozol p. 233)

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A Different EndingAfter Reading this book the president of the

United States, the Senate and Congress have unanimously voted to completely overhaul the current education system. Furthermore, they also have agree to equally distribute per pupil expenditure in all school district of the nation and to end once for all student segregation. All schools that are in poor condition will be repaired, fully equipped and staffed. The government is proposing that each school class must have the maximum of 20 students per teacher.

Savage Inequalities

A different EndingIn addition, the government is prepare to hire

one million teachers for the current year and give a 20% raise to all current teachers. Also, the federal government has issue a new mandate that put an end to standardized testing in all public schools. The government said after reading “Savage Inequalities” by Jonathan Kazol they were touched by these realities and from now on, no more Inequalities in the public school system.

Savage Inequalities

CitationsKozol, J. (1992). Savage Inequalities.

New York, NY: Harper Collins Publishers, Inc.