Jonathan Kozol's book, Savage Inequalities, speaks about the misfortune of students and the problems they face not only currently but in the future. The dilemma that our society has now is to step up to the plate
Caitlin Pacer 11/14/2005
SPE 432 Urban Book Review
Savage Inequalities: Jonathan Kozol
Jonathan Kozol writes about the indifferences of how students are treated in today’s society. Through misfortunes set upon them by society, students are seeing themselves in a completely negative light. Kozol quotes CSS in his chapter, The Savage Inequalites of Public Education in New York “Children hear and understand this theme- they are poor investments- and behave accordingly. If society’s resources would be wasted on their destines, perhaps their own determination would be wasted too.” The students in the poorest districts are receiving the worst education. This seems to be an overlying theme to his book. This proves to be true, the teachers are leaving at a rapid pace, the student’s books are not available and their buildings are falling down. Kozol makes an assumption when asking the point of how our society holds our students accountable for their lack of focus or motivation if there is no help from the surrounding world. He provides examples in the New York chapter that emphasize and substantialize this point. For example, when he visits Mt. Morris High School, the school is in shambles. The students are disillusioned about their future, one student remarks “Most of the students in the this school won’t go to college. Many of them will join the military….” The student goes on to ask how could he support a nation that does not support him due to his skin color. This comment brings us to the central theme of Kozol’s book.