Kozol brings up many interesting points in the reading. The subject matter was all to familiar, because in my introductory Sociology class we read a chapter dedicated to Jonathon Kozol and this book, it was titled “Still Separate, Still Unequal.” I went back to see what I could remember of the book, and turns out I did a power point presentation on it. The Historical significance tracing back to civil war and Brown vs. Board of Education is deffinitely important to take into consideration, but the newer statistics and dates are equally, if not more so important. In my sociology class we discussed how modern schools are in a movement of re-segregation. Schools which were once segregated by force or law are now beginning to retreat back into segregated bodies by other means. For instance, in my powerpoint I salvaged some statistics from some segregated schools in the 2002-2003 public school year. This was directly from the chapter in the Textbook “Sociology Matters” by Richard Schaefer.
1.Chicago 87% Black/Hispanic <10% White
2.Washington D.C. 94% Black/Hispanic <5% White
3.St. Louis 82% Black/Hispanic
4.Philadelphia/Cleveland 79% Black/Hispanic
5.L.A. 84% Black/Hispanic
6.Detroit 96% Black/Hispanic
7.Baltimore 89% Black/Hispanic
8.NYC ~75% Black/Hispanic
But in the Bronx ~90% or more on average
Adlai Stevenson High School – 97% Black/Hispanic (of 3400) – (8/10) of a single percent white
the next interesting thing they bought up was the funding that could “solve” this problem. Kozol believes money is pracctically a cure-all for this situation. He cites the fact that In 1998 it cost “NYC public school education ~$8,000 a child a year, White suburban public schools ~$12,000 a child, and Wealthy White Suburbs were ~$18,000 a child per year.” He then went on to explain that even at an average cost of $18,000 a year, some suburban children opted to pay way more on top of this in order to receive a private education. What I was wondering is, is this money difference to to overcrowding, or money resources? Do you believe money through taxes, or some sort of institutional change could reform the problems of Inequality, funding, and overcrowding? And last, does any of this surprise you? Do you think schools boasting diversity and equality are actually just covering up the countries lack of equality?
I feel that money would help eliminate some of these inequalities in education between the poor and rich schools. Because schools in poor districts operate with limited resources, they have to deal with issues such as overcrowding. Funding may not address issues of segregation, but it will help improve the quality of education for the students who attend these poorer schools.