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Jeffrey Lu

21 March 2017

Savage Inequalities Reading and Reflection Paper

In the excerpt from the novel, Savage Inequalities: Children in Americas Schools, by

Jonathan Kozol, Kozol depicts and compares the imbalance in schools in America with those of

different races and social classes. In Irl Solomons history class, Kozol illustrates Solomons

class as the highlight of the entire school. The main reasons why Solomon became a teacher

was because of his solid beliefs in civil rights. Through his firm beliefs, he decided to take the

bullet and instruct at the most toughest institution so that he could share his knowledge and

influence others positively. The dangerous school he taught at was called East St. Louis High

School, a school located in a town with high poverty. Girls in his senior class were mostly

pregnant or already mothers to children. When questioned upon why they became pregnant, they

all responded with similar responses that it is normal having babies, and probably unusual in

their society if they do not. East St. Louis High School has terrible conditions that negatively

affect students education. The school is constantly shut down due to threatening situations as it

minimizes students education. In other words, receiving a high school diploma from East St.

Louis High School has little to no meaning since students do not obtain the education/knowledge

they need.

Further, as the excerpt progresses, Kozol visits other safer and more reliable schools in

Rye where he meets a girl named Jennifer. Jennifer was originally from Bronx, a community

similar to the poor circumstances of St. Louis. She and her parents decided to move to Rye in

New York to avoid the poor educational system in St. Louis. Jennifer firmly believes that her

parents should not be contributing to taxes because she feels as if she did not get a fair share of
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them since she did not learn what she needed to in school at Bronx. In other words, she is not

benefitting at all from what her parents contribute to the government from taxes.

Comparing between East St. Louis and Rye, Rye was definitely more privileged than that

of East St. Louis. The town of East St. Louis is filled with poverty and schools do not receive

any funds or support. Populated by African Americans, East St. Louis experiences inequality as

they experience a different level of respect and support compared to Rye. As for Rye, it is

populated with Whites, Asians, and Hispanics where parents were able to contribute and support

their school since they are not in poverty. Students at Rye receive a higher level of education than

East St. Louis such as more class options/opportunities like Advanced Placement courses.

In my own opinion, I partially agree with Jennifers viewpoint on how she is not getting

enough education from what her parents put in. I disagree that our parents should stop paying

taxes because that would just make circumstances more difficult; however, I would like our

shares of taxes to be equally shared and used wisely. I feel as if the government is not spending

enough on aiding those in poverty, but spending too much on things that are unnecessary.

Further, I firmly believe that schools in poverty with reckless students should have more strict

authoritative figures and a stricter curriculum into putting them in place. In the past 20 years,

things have definitely changed in our system. Changes for the better are programs that help aid

students to go to college and the beginning of more scholarship opportunities for students. On the

contrary, the educational system attempted to change its curriculum recently to Common Core

with its emphasis on language arts and mathematics. I believe changes like these are unnecessary

because the cost could have been spent on other useful things such as aiding those in poverty.

Changes that should be taken action are those such as instructing instructors on how to teach

their students into making learning a more exciting and engaging environment.
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