Priscilla Rebollo

Professor Mozzini

July 23, 2017

Savage Inequalities Reading and Reflection

Irl Solomon's history classes are considered to be the highlight of the school. He goes on to explain

how he went to law school, but discovered that law wasn't for him. He told himself to go and find the

toughest place to teach, which he found was to be Martin Luther King Junior High School. He's been

there ever since, teaching there for over 30 years. In his history class, he has four girls who are pregnant

or who had just had babies. When he asks why, the girls say that "there's no reason not to have a baby"

and that there's nothing for them in public school. Solomon's reaction to this seemed to be very

understanding. He knew where his students were coming from. They felt hopeless to graduate to the

point where they dont even show up to their classes because of the lack of equipment and the lack of

classes that the students are interesting in taking, such as Latin. Solomon reveals that they lost their only

Latin teacher. Only 55% actually graduate and of that, 20% go to four year colleges and the other 10-

20% will receive a higher education. The rest of the students join the military.

Jennifer says her family is originally from the Bronx where the schools were very poor and was

considered "hell". Her parents moved to Rye so that she wouldn't have to go to school there. She feels

that her parents or anyone should not have to pay taxes to provide for them, and that they should

provide for themselves if they really wanted a good life. However, she does say that everyone deserves

to take the same courses, but when asked if paying more taxes to make that possible was fair, she

answered with "I dont see how that benefits me".

East St Louis is a very impoverished city that has the highest rates of child asthma in the country

because of the high fumes from chemical plants, and the highest property-tax rate in the state. One of

the biggest problems is the sewage leakage, which was first discovered when it was backed into the
homes of the residents. The sewage has flooded into a children's playground and even the schools,

which resulted in all the schools in the district to be temporarily shut down. Due to the all the damage,

the city had to lay off 280 teachers and about a hundred more school staff. This affected the sizes of the

classes, leaving them to be very impacted because there's not enough teachers. Not only were the

schools affected by the sewage problem, but were also affected by the lack of funding put into them to

keep them functioning. The schools were extremely outdated with lack of, or broken, equipment for the

classes. To save money, they have been using more than 70 "permanent substitute teachers", who are

paid only $10,00 a year. On the opposite end of the spectrum, the school in Rye, New York has all the

funds needed to keep the school updated and going. The money comes from donations of the students'

parents. They have all the resources and equipment needed to give the students a quality education. For

example, the school offers AP classes. They have the advantage to utilize everything that the school has

because the school has a steady income, whereas the students in East St. Louis have to work with only

what they have, which isnt nearly enough for a quality education.

Reading this article has opened my eyes to the reality that there are schools that are poorly funded

and that students dont get the education they deserve. It made me feel extremely grateful that I was

able to get a quality education due to the sacrifices my parents made. I attended an all-girls private

school all four years of high school. I did have a few more advantages than the public schools in my area,

but never would I look down upon them because they were getting just as good of an education as I

was. I think within the past 20 years, schools have gotten better at updating their programs and

equipment, but there are some schools that struggle trying to do this. However, I think now with the use

of social media, these schools can utilize different social media sites to raise awareness and fundraise so

that they can improve their system.