Savage Inequality Chapter Summary

Inequality is an issue in the current American society and it is widely existing in every aspect of the society. The question why the education inequalities are still exacerbated today by racial segregation and concentrated poverty in many American schools. The evidence provided in the book “Savage Inequality”, written by the Jonathan Kozol in 1991. This book addresses the disparities in the education funding and discusses the difference of the education quality between urban schools and suburban schools. This book is based on Kozol’s two years observation of public school and interviews with students, teachers, and parents in Mississippi, Chicago, New York, Washington D.C., and San Antonio. Kozol highlights the problems in the poor school

According to the National Center for Education Statistics, most the US education funds comes from state and local government, approximately 93% (PBS, 2008). The federal government only shares a little of responsibility on education funds. In most states, the taxes are collected in different forms, property tax, sales tax, corporation tax and personal tax. Because of this system, it leads some states to an inequitable allocation of tax to fund schools. Poor places like East St. Louis that Kozol described in his book, tax itself on a very high tax rate, the local government couldn’t provide adequate fund into their school system. Instead, it is too corrupted to even regulate the local chemical plant, sewage plant, and toxic waste incinerator, which produce so many pollutions and toxic that deadly harmful to the people live there. It is devastating to me that our politicians do not even address the issue. It seems to me that the government just totally abandon that

The contrasts of physical surroundings and learning environment, bring me a realization of how schools can be so different between the poor, minority-race children and wealthy, white children. In one of Kozol’s interview, he points out that unjust property tax is the primary means of funding public education. “It is a betrayal of democracy” (Scherer, 1993). Public schools should be a foundation government program for every child access to. They have the right to get the equal quality of school system and nutrition meals. Education is the basis of all function since it can provide job opportunities for the people, lower crime rates and unemployment rate in the long term. Moreover, education should be related to the overall welfare of human beings. At this point, the social welfare policy is not perfect in America, otherwise, it will not have the problem of education