Jonathan Kozol's "Savage Inequalities"

In Savage Inequalities, Jonathan Kozol mentioned many problems in the American education system that I did not find very surprising. This was the second time I have read this book, and like many others I found something I didn't catch the first time I read it. The racism issue was a main factor in the downfall of our educational differences. School funding and racial segregation tend to correlate with the sociology of education. Kozol seemed to take his book in the form of a social research project. His hypothesis for it would be the less funding a school receives increases the student population of minorities. Of course, there are some areas in America, such as Appalachia (Cincinnati, Ohio) where the dominant group are whites yet they are one of the poorest sections in the country.

In most urban schools, the majority of the student population is Black and/or Hispanic. In one of the public schools in New York City, it was 90% Black and Hispanic with the other 10% Asian, White and Middle Eastern. This is common in many urban public schools, not just in New York. It opens your eyes to the racial segregation that still persists in our country. I see it as an indirect form. It is saddening to know by reading the book how the children do know that they are getting the bad end of the stick. By watching shows on TV, they see how the other half lives. They see the conditions of their schools and the racial makeup as compared to the students in the suburbs. It would get me angry if I were in the same situation.