Kozol

10 Pages 2482 Words

d commonplace. Even the youth in the wealthier schools had lots of excuses to explain why they deserved better schools than kids sometimes living within a few miles.
Kozol describes conditions the clearly violate the landmark court decision in “Brown vs. Board of Education” (No. 1, SUPREME COURT OF THE UNITED STATES, 347 U.S. 483; 74 S. Ct. 686; 98 L. Ed. 873; 1954 U.S. LEXIS 2094; 53 Ohio Op. 326; 38 A.L.R.2d 1180, December 9, 1952, Argued, May 17, 1954, Decided, Reargued December 8, 1953), which supposedly mandated the desegregation of schools in America. Towns close enough to easily integrate face almost total segregation with abysmal conditions in the Black and/or Latino schools and tremendously good resources in the white schools.
Although the statistics are more than 10 years out of date, the reality of America school segregation has not changed. The barely functional buildings, lack of up to date text books (or in many cases any text books), overcrowded classes, non-existent lab and computer equipment, and low paid teachers create a situation of despair that leads to a drop out rate of more than 50% in many districts. And even those who graduate are often barely literate. Kozol draws the clear link between these schools and the imprisonment of the oppressed nations who, after dropping out of a dead end education, end up locked behind bars.
The overt racism of this system is exposed when districts with little money run out of space for their kids and try to rent empty space from wealthier districts. Those that agree require the kids to stay entirely segregated from the white student body, as if contact between them might lower the value of the wealthy education.
The education system in America is set up to perpetuate inequality. Funded primarily from property taxes, it's clear that the wealthier areas will have more expensive houses and so higher property tax revenues to put into the schools. The areas of poverty will...