Savage Inequalities Reading & Reflection

Overview

Savage Inequalities: Children in America’s Schools is a book written by Jonathan Kozol in 1991 that discusses the disparities in education between schools of different classes and races. It is based on his observations of various classrooms in the public school systems of East St. Louis, Chicago, New York City, Camden, Cincinnati, and Washington D.C.. His observations take place in both schools with the lowest per capita spending on students and the highest, ranging from just over $3,000 in Camden, New Jersey to a maximum expenditure of up to $15,000 in Great Neck, Long Island.

In his visits to these areas, Kozol illustrates the overcrowded, unsanitary and often understaffed environment that is lacking in basic tools and textbooks for teaching. He cites the large proportions of minorities in the areas with the lowest annual budgets, despite the higher taxation rate on individuals living in poverty within the school district.

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Directions

You will read an excerpt from Savage Inequalities. For this writing assignment:

Download the Savage Inequalities .

  • Summarize in your own words the following from the article:

    Irl Solomon’s history class
    Jennifer’s views on schools in poor area (Bronx & East St. Louis)
    Contrast East St Louis with the school in Rye, New York

  • After your summary, include your own perspective/opinion about this article. For example, given your experience do you think in the past 20 years anything has changed in our system? If so, what? If not, why have things remained the same?
  • You should submit a 2 page double-spaced document written in 12 point font for this assignment. Remember that you must have a Turnitin score, and it must be under 30%, for credit on this assignment. Make sure to remove the questions from your submission (just number your answers).

    328
    1

    H
    erbert]. G

    ons

    dysfunctional for the affluent
    m

    em
    bers of society. A functional analysis thus

    ultim
    ately anives at m

    uch the sam
    e conclusion as radical sociology, except that

    radical thinkers treat as m
    anifest w

    hat I describe as latent: that social phenom

    ena that are functional for aftlnent
    or pow

    erful p
    u

    p
    s

    and dysfunctional for
    poor or pow

    erless ones persist; that w
    hen the elim

    ination of such phenom
    ena

    through functional alternatives w
    ould generate dysfunctions for the affluent

    or
    pow

    erful, they will continue to persist; and that phenom
    ena like p

    o
    v

    eq
    can

    be elim
    inated only w

    hen they becom
    e dysfunctional for the affluent or pow

    er-
    ful, or w

    hen the paverless can obtain enough pow
    er to change society.

    Postscript

    O
    ver the yean, this article has been intelpreted as either a direct attack on

    functionalism
    or a tongue-in-cheek satirical com

    m
    ent on it%

    either
    intelpre-

    tation is D
    ue. I w

    rote the article for tw
    o reasons. First and forem

    ost, I w
    anted

    to point out that there are, u
    n

    fo
    h

    ately
    , positive functions of poverty w

    hich
    have to be dealt w

    ith by antipoverty policy. S
    e

    ~
    n

    d
    ,
    I w

    as trying to show
    that

    functionalism
    is not the inherently conservative approach for w

    hich it has
    often been criticized, but that it can he em

    ployed in liberal and radical
    analyses.

    3
    1
    Savage Inequalities

    JO
    N

    A
    TH

    A
    N

    K
    O

    ZO
    L

    Socid inequality so pelvades our society that it leaves no area of life
    untouched. C

    onsequently, because w
    e are im

    m
    ersed in it, w

    e usually
    take social inequality for granted. W

    hen social inequality does becom
    e

    vbible to us, itssocinl ofigins often disappear from
    sight. W

    e tend to
    see social inequality as part of the m

    tuvd ordeling of liferaften ex-
    plaining it on the’hasis of people’s individual chm

    cteristi5s. (“The)”
    are IzA

    er, dum
    ber, less m

    oral-or w
    hatever-than

    nthorhers. That’s the
    reason they have less than w

    e do.) This selection, how
    ever, m

    akes the
    sociol base of social inequality especially vivid.

    To exam
    ine the U.S.educational+em

    .
    K

    ozol haveled m
    und the

    counq and ohsew
    ed schools in pow

    , m
    iddle-cllasr,and +

    m
    m

    m
    uni-

    ties. B
    ecause schoals are financed largely by local property taxes, w

    ealth-
    ier m

    rnm
    unities am

    able to offer higher salaries and
    ath

    ad
    m

    ore
    qualified teachers, offer m

    ore specialized and advanced m
    urses, pur-

    chase new
    er texts and equipm

    ent, and thereby
    their children

    better education. The extent of the disparitjes, how
    ever, is m

    uch greater
    than m

    ost people &.
    As you read about.the tpg rchgds ~nrrasted

    in this selectiah hy to project yourself intn each s
    iW

    n
    . H

    aw
    da you

    think that living in these c

    om
    m

    unities and being a sbdent in these
    schools w

    ould likely affect you-not
    only w

    hat you ]em
    , hut also your

    \view
    s on life,as w

    ell asynur entire future?

    “EA
    STO

    F A
    N
    Y
    W
    H
    E
    R
    E
    ,

    w
    ites a reporter for the St. h

    i
    s

    Post-
    m

    a
    tc

    h
    , “often evokes the other side of the tracks. B

    ut, for a k
    t-tim

    e visitor
    suddenly deposited on its eerily em

    pty streets, E
    ast St. L

    ouis m
    ight suggest

    another w
    orld.” T

    he city, w
    hich is 98 percent black, has no obstetric services,

    no regular trash collection, and tew
    lobs. N

    early a third of its fam
    ilies live on

    less than $7,500 a year; 75 percent ofits population lives on w
    elfare of som

    e
    form

    . T
    he U

    .S. D
    epartm

    ent of H
    ousing and U

    rban D
    evelopm

    ent describes it
    as “the m

    ost distressed sm
    all city in A

    m
    erica.”

    O
    nly three of the 13 buildings on M

    issouri A
    venue, one of the city’s

    m
    ajor thoroughfares, are occupied. A

    13-story office building, tallest in the
    city, has been boarded up. O

    utside, on the sidew
    alk, a pile of garbage fillsa

    ten-fw
    t crater.

    T
    he city, w

    hich by night and day is clouded by the fum
    es that pour from

    vents and sm
    okestacks at the Pfizer and M

    onsanto chem
    ical plants, has one of

    the highest rates of child asthm
    a in A

    m
    erica.

    It is, according to a teacher at Southern Illinois U
    niversity, “a repositoly

    for a nonw
    hite population that is now

    regarded as expendable.” The Past-
    D

    ispatch describes it as “A
    m

    erica’s Sow
    eto.”

    Fiscal shortages have forced the layoff of 1,170 of the city’s 1,400 em
    ploy-

    ees in the past 12 years. T
    he city, w

    hich is often unable to buy heating fuel or
    toilet paper for the city hall, recently announced tllat it m

    ight have to cashier
    all but 10 percent of the rem

    aining w
    ork force of 230. The m

    ayor announced
    that he m

    ight need to sell the city hall and all six fire stations to raise needed
    cash. Last year the plan had to he scrappedafter the city lost its city hall in a
    court judgm

    ent to a creditor. E
    ast S

    t Louis is m
    ortgaged into the next century

    hut has the highest property-tax rate in the state. . . .
    The dangers of exposure to raw

    sew
    age, w

    hich backs up repeatedly into the
    hom

    es of residents in East St. Louis, w
    ere first noticed at a public housing pro-

    ject, V
    illa G

    riffin. Raw
    sew

    age, says the Part-D
    ispatch, overflow

    ed into a play-
    ground just behind the housing project, w

    hich is hom
    e to 187 children, “form

    ing
    an o

    o
    d

    g
    lake of. ..tainted w

    ater.”. ..A St. Louis health official voices her dis-
    m

    ay that children live w
    ith w

    aste in their hac!yrds. ‘T
    he developm

    ent of w
    ork-

    ing sew
    age system

    s m
    ade cities livable a hundred yean ago,” she notes. “Sew

    age

    system
    s separate us from

    the Third W
    orld.” . ..

    The sew
    age, w

    hich is flow
    ing from

    collapsed pipes and dysfunctional
    pum

    ping stations, has also flooded basem
    ents all over the city. The city’s vac-

    uum
    truck, w

    hich uses w
    ater and suction to unclog the city’s sew

    ers, cannot be
    used because it needs $5,000 in repairs. Even w

    hen it w
    orks, it som

    etim
    es

    can’t be used because there isn’t mo;ey
    to hire driven. A

    single engineer now

    does the w
    ork that 14 others did before they w

    ere laid off. By A
    pd the pool of

    overflow
    behind the ViUa

    G
    riffin project has expanded into a lagoon of

    sew
    age. Tw

    o m
    illion gallons of raw

    sew
    age lie outside the children’s hom

    es. …
    . .. Sister Julia H

    uiskam
    p m

    eets m
    e on K

    ing B
    oulevard and drives m

    e to
    the G

    riffn hom
    es.

    As w
    e ride past blocks and blocks of skeletal structures, som

    e of w
    hich

    are still inhabited, she slow
    s the car repeatedly at railroad crossings. A

    seem

    ingly endless railroad train rolls past us to the right. O
    n the left: a blackened

    lot w
    here garbage has been burning. N

    ext to the burning garbage is a row
    of

    12
    w

    hite cabins, charred by fire. N
    ext: a lot that holds a heap of auto tires and

    a m
    ountain of tin cans. M

    ore burnt houses. M
    ore bash h

    s
    . The train m

    oves
    alm

    ost im
    perceptibly across the flatness of the land.

    Fifty years old, and w
    earing a blue suit, w

    hite blouse, and blue head-
    cover, Sister Julia points to the nicest house in sight. T

    he sign on the front
    reads M

    O
    TEL. “It’s a w

    horehouse:
    Sister Julia says.

    W
    hen she slow

    s the car beside a group of teen-age boys, one of them

    steps out tow
    ard the car, then backs aw

    ay as she is recognized.
    The 99 units of the V

    illa G
    riffin hom

    es-tw
    o-story

    structures, brick on

    Savage loequalities
    1

    331

    the first floor, yellow
    w

    ood ahov-fonk
    one border of a recessed park and

    playground that w
    ere Elled w

    ith fecal m
    atter last year w

    hen the sew
    age m

    ains
    exploded. T

    he sew
    age is gone now

    and the grass is very green and look invit-
    ing. W

    hen nine-year-old Serena and her seven-year-old hrother take m
    e for a

    w
    alk, how

    ever, I discover that our shoes sink into w
    hat is still a sew

    age m
    arsh.

    A
    n inch-deep residue of fouled w

    ater stiU
    rem

    ains.
    Serena’s hrother is a handsom

    e, joyous little boy, hut trouhlingly thin.
    Three other children join us as w

    e w
    alk along the m

    arsh: Sm
    okey, w

    ho is nine
    years old hut cannot yet tell tim

    e; M
    ickey, w

    ho is seven; and a tiny child w
    ith a

    ponytail and big brow
    n eyes w

    ho talh a constant stream
    of w

    ords that I can’t
    alw

    ays understand.
    “H

    ush, Little Sister,” says
    ere
    Q

    .I ask for her nam
    e, but “Little Sister” is

    the only nam
    e the children seem

    to know
    .

    “There go m
    y cousins,” Sm

    okey says, pointing to tw
    o teen-age girls above

    us on the hill.
    The day is w

    m
    ,

    although w
    e’re only in the second w

    eek of M
    arch: sev-

    eral dogs and cats are playing by the edges of the m
    arsh. “It’s a lot of squirrels

    here,” says Sm
    okey. ‘T

    here go one!”
    “This here squirrel is a friend of m

    ine,” says Little Sister.
    N

    one of the children can tell m
    e the approxim

    ate tim
    e that school begins,

    O
    ne says five o’clock. O

    ne says six. A
    nother says that school begins at noon.

    W
    hen I ask w

    hat song they sing after the flag pledge, one says, “Jingle
    B

    ells ”
    Sm

    ke
    cannot decide if he is in the second or third grade.

    @
    -year-old M

    ickey sucks his thum
    b duringthe w

    alk.
    The children regale m

    e w
    ith a chilling stov as w

    e stand beside the m
    arsh.

    Sm
    okey says his sister w

    as raped and m
    urdered and then dum

    ped behind his
    school. O

    ther children add m
    ore details: Sm

    okey’s sister w
    as 11 years old. She

    w
    as beaten w

    ith a brick until she died. The m
    urder w

    as com
    m

    itted by a m
    an

    w
    ho knew

    her m
    other.

    The narrative begins w
    hen, w

    ithout w
    arning, Sm

    okey says, “M
    y sister has

    got Idled.”
    “She w

    as m
    y best friend,” Serena says.

    “They had beat her in the head and raped her,” Sm
    okey says.

    “She w
    as hollering out loud,” says Little Sister.

    I ask them
    w

    g
    n

    it happened. Sm
    okey says, .Last year.” Serena then cor-

    rectshim
    and sh&

    ays, “Last w
    eek.”

    “It scared m
    e because I had to cry,” says Little Sister.

    “The police arrested one m
    an but they didn’t catch the other,” Sm

    okey
    says. Serena says, “H

    e w
    as som

    e idn to her.”
    B

    ut Sm
    okey objects, “H

    e w
    eren’t no idn to m

    e. H
    e w

    as m
    y m

    om
    m

    a’s
    friend.”

    “H
    er face w

    as busted,” Little Sister says.

    Serena describes this sequence of events: “They told her go behind the
    school. They’ll give her a quarter if she do. Then they hock her dow

    n and
    told her not to tell w

    hat they had did.”
    I ask, ‘W

    hy did they M
    her?”

    “They w
    as scared that she w

    ould tell,” Serena says.
    “O

    ne is in jail,” says Sm
    okey. “They cain’t find the other.”

    “Instead of raping little hitty children, they should find them
    selves a

    w
    ife,” says Little Sister.

    “Ihope,” Serena says, “her spirit w
    ill com

    e back and get that m
    an.”

    “A
    nd kill that m

    an,” says Little Sister.
    “G

    ive her another chance to live,” Serena says.
    -M

    y teacher cam
    e to the funeral,” says Sm

    okey.
    ‘W

    hen a little child dies, m
    y m

    om
    m

    a say a star go straight to H
    eaven,”

    says Serena.
    “M

    y grandm
    a w

    as m
    urdered,” M

    ickey says out of the blue. “Som
    ebody

    shot tw
    o bullets in her head.”

    I askhm
    , “Is she really deadBY

    .
    “She dead all right,” say? M

    ickeyi “She w
    as layin’ there, just dead.”

    “I love m
    y friends,” Ser&

    a say! “I don’t care if they no k
    n

    to m
    e. I care

    for them
    . I hope his m

    other have another baby N
    am

    e her for m
    y friend that’s

    dead.” “I have a cat w
    ith three legs,” Sm

    okey says.
    “Snakes hate rabbits,” M

    ickey says, again for no apparent reason.
    “C

    ats hate fishes,” Little Sister says.
    “It’s a lot of hate,” says Sm

    okey.
    Later, at the m

    ission, Sister Julia tells m
    e this: “The Jefferson School,

    w
    hich they attend, is a decrepit hulk. N

    ext to it is a m
    odem

    school, erected tw
    o

    years ago, w
    hich was to have replaced the one that they attend. B

    ut the con-
    struction w

    as not done correctly. The roof is tm
    heavy for the w

    alls, and the en-
    tire structure has begun to sink.It can’t he occupied. Sm

    okey’s sister w
    as raped

    and m
    urdered and dum

    ped betw
    een the old school and the new

    one.” . ..
    T

    he problem
    s of the streets in urban areas, as teachers often note, fre-

    quently spill over into public schools. In the public schools of East St. Louis
    this is literally the case.

    “M
    artin Luther K

    ing Junior H
    igh School,” notes the Post-D

    ispatch in a
    story published in the early spring of 1989, “w

    as evacuated Friday afternoon
    after sew

    age flow
    ed into the idtchen. . . . T

    he kitchen w
    as closed and stn-

    dents w
    ere sent hom

    e.” O
    n M

    onday, the paper continues, “East St. Louis
    Senior H

    igh School w
    as aw

    ash in sew
    age for the second tim

    e this year.” The
    school had to be shut because of “fum

    es and backed-up toilets.” Sew
    age

    flow
    ed into the basem

    ent, through the floor, then up into the kitchen and
    the students’ bathroom

    s. The backup, w
    e read, “occurred in the food prepa-

    ration areas.”
    School is resum

    ed the foU
    ow

    ing m
    orning at the high school, but a few

    S
    avage inequalities

    I
    333

    days later the overtlow
    recurs. This tim

    e the entire system
    is affected, since

    the m
    eals distributed to evely student in the city are prepared

    the tw
    o

    schools that have been flooded. School is called off for all 16,500 students in
    the district. T

    he sew
    age backup, caused by the failure of tw

    o pum
    ping sta-

    .

    ~

    rirjns, lirrre, orrsials nr rhc laiel~ school o, slllrr dow
    n tile filtnacrf.

    .It
    \lu

    n
    ll

    Lurhtr K
    ing, thr: pnrking lot dadF

    n
    l arr ~

    1
    9

    0floodrd. “It’s
    a

    disaster,” says a legislator. “The streets are under w
    ater; gaseous fum

    es are
    being em

    itted from
    the pipes under the schools,” she says, “m

    aking people iU.”
    In the sam

    e w
    eek the schools announce the layoff of 280 teachers, 166

    cooks and cafeteria w
    orkers, 25 teacher aides, 16 custodians and 18 painters,

    electricians, engineers and plum
    bers. The president of the teachers’ union

    says the cuts, w
    hich w

    ill bring the size of ldndergarten and prim
    ary classes up

    to 30 students, and the size of fourth to tw
    elfth grade classes up to 35, w

    ill
    have “an unim

    aginable im
    pact” on the students. “If you have a high sch~ol

    teacher w
    ith five classes each day and betw

    een 150 and 175
    students . . . , it’s

    going to have a devastating effect.” T
    he school system

    , it is also noted, has
    been using m

    ore than
    chers,” w

    ho are paid only
    $10,000 yearly, as a

    East St. Louis, says the chairm
    an of the state board, “is sim

    ply the w
    orst

    possible place I can im
    agine to have a child brought up. . . . The com

    m
    unity is

    in desperate circum
    stances.” S

    po~ts and m
    usic, he observes, are, for m

    any
    children here, “the only avenues of success.” Sadly enough, no m

    atter how
    it .

    ratifies the stereotype, this is the truth; and there is a poignant aspect to the
    fact that, even w

    ith class size soaring and one quarter of the system
    ‘s teachers

    being given their dism
    issal, the state hoard of education dem

    onstrates its gen-
    uine but skew

    ed com
    passion by attem

    pting to leave sports and m
    usic nn-

    touched by the overall austerity.
    Even sports facilities, how

    ever, are degrading by com
    parison w

    ith those
    found and expected at m

    ost high schools in A
    m

    erica. T
    he football field at East

    St. Louis H
    igh is m

    issing alm
    ost everything-including

    pa
    . There a?

    a
    couple of m

    etal pipes-no
    crossbar, just the pipes. B

    Shann

    coach, w
    ho has to use his personal funds to purchase Q

    ,the football
    o

    s and has had to
    cut and rake the football field him

    self, has dream
    s of having goalposts som

    e-
    day. H

    e’d also like to let his students have new
    uniform

    s. The ones they w
    ear

    are nine years old and held together som
    ehow

    by a patchw
    ork of repairs.

    K
    eeping them

    clean is a problem
    , too. The school cannot afford a w

    ashing m
    a-

    chine. The uniform
    s are carted to a corner laundrom

    at w
    ith fifteen dollars’

    w
    orth of quarters. . . .

    In the w
    ing of the school that holds vocational classes, a dam

    p, unpleas-
    ant odor fds the halls. T

    he school has a m
    achine shop, w

    hich cannot be used
    for lack of staff, and a w

    oodw
    orking shop. T

    he only shop that’s occupied this
    m

    orning is the auto-body class. A m
    an w

    ith long blond hair and w
    earing a

    w
    hite sw

    eat suit sw
    ings a paddle to get children in their chairs. ‘W

    bat w
    e need

    the m
    ost is new

    equipm
    ent,” he reports. “I have equipm

    ent for alignm
    ent, for

    Savage Inequalities
    I

    335

    exam
    ple, but w

    e don’t have m
    oney to install it. W

    e also need a better form
    of

    egress. W
    e bring the cars in through tw

    o other classes.” C
    om

    puterized equip-
    m

    ent used in m
    ost repair shops, he reports, is far beyond the high school’s

    budget. It looks like a very old gas station in an isolated rural tow
    n. . . .

    The science labs at East St. Louis H
    igh are 30 to 50 years outdated. John

    M
    cM

    illan, a soft-spoken m
    an, teaches physics at the school. H

    e show
    s m

    e his
    lab. The six lab stations in the room

    have em
    pty holes w

    here pipes w
    ere once

    attached. “It w
    ould he great ifw

    e had w
    ater,” says M

    cM
    illau. . . .

    Leaving the chem
    istry labs, I pass a double-sized classroom

    in w
    hich

    roughly 60 ldds are sitting fairly still but doing nothing. “This is supenised
    study hall,” a teacher tells m

    e in the conidor. B
    ut w

    hen w
    e step inside, he

    finds there is noteacher. “The teacher m
    ust be out today,” he says.

    Irl Solom
    on’s history classes, w

    hich I visit next, have been described by
    journalists w

    ho cover East St. Louis as the highlight of the school. Solom
    on, a

    m
    an of 54 w

    hose reddish hair is turning w
    hite, has taught in urban schools for

    alm
    ost 30 yead. A graduate of B

    randeis U
    niversity, he entered law

    school hut
    w

    as draw
    n aw

    ay by a concern w
    ihckvil-rights. “A

    fter one sem
    ester, I decided

    that the law
    w

    as not for m
    e. I said, ‘G

    o and find the toughest place there is to
    teach. See if you like it.’ I’m

    still here. . . .
    “I have four girls right now

    in m
    y senior hom

    e room
    w

    ho are pregnant or
    have just had babies. W

    hen I ask them
    w

    hy this happens, I am
    ,told, W

    ell,
    there’s no reason not to have a baby. There’s not m

    uch for m
    e in public

    school.’ The truth is, that’s a pretty honest answ
    er. A diplom

    a from
    a ghetto

    high school doesn’t count for m
    uch in the U

    nited States today. So, if this is re-
    ally the last education that a person’s going to get, she’s probably perceptive in
    that statem

    ent. A
    h, there’s so m

    uch bitterness-unfairness-there,
    you h

    a
    v
    .

    M
    ost of these pregnant girls are not the ones w

    ho have m
    uch self-esteem

    . . . .
    ”V

    ery little education in the school w
    ould be considered academ

    ic in the
    suburbs. M

    aybe 10 to 15 percent of students a
    n
    in truly academ

    ic program
    s.

    O
    f the 55 percent w

    ho graduate, 20 percent m
    ay go to four-yeir colleges:

    som
    ething like 10 percent of any entering class. A

    nother 10 to 20 percent m
    ay

    get som
    e other ldnd of higher education. An equal num

    ber join the m
    ilitary. . . .

    “I don’t go to physics class, because m
    fib has no equipm

    ent,” says one
    student. ‘T

    he typew
    riters in m

    y typing class don’t w
    ork. T

    he w
    om

    en’s
    toilets . . . ” She m

    akes a sour face. “I’ll he honest,” she says. “Ijust don’t use
    the toilets. If I do, I com

    e back into class and I feel dirty.”
    “Iw

    anted to study Latin,; says another student. “But w
    e don’t have Latin

    in this school.”
    ‘W

    e lost our onlp-Latin teacher,” Solom
    on says.

    A
    girl in a w

    hite jersey w
    ith the m

    essage D
    O

    T
    H

    E
    R

    IG
    H

    T TH
    IN

    G
    on

    the front raises her hand. ‘Y
    ou visit other schools,” she says. “D

    o you think the
    childien in this school are getting w

    hat w
    e’d get in a nice section of St. Louis?”

    I note that w
    e are in a different state and c

    q
    ,

    “A
    re w

    e citizens of East St. Louis or A
    m

    erica? she asks. …
    In a seventh grade social studies class,the . . . teacher invites m

    e to ask
    the class som

    e questions. U
    ncertain w

    here to start, I ask the students w
    hat

    they’ve learned about the civil rights cam
    paigns of recent decades.

    A
    14year-old girl w

    ith short black curly hair says this: “Every year in
    Febm

    ary w
    e are told to read the sam

    e old speech of M
    artin Luther K

    ing. W
    e

    read it every year. ‘I have a dream
    . . . . ‘ It does begin toseem

    -w
    hat

    is the
    w

    ord?” She hesitates and then she finds the w
    ord: ‘perfunctory.”

    I’H
    sk her w

    hat she m
    eans.

    ‘W
    e have a school in East St. Louis nam

    ed for D
    r. K

    ing,” she says. ‘

    T
    he

    school is full of sew
    er w

    ater and the doors are locked w
    ith chains. Evely stu-

    dent in that school is black. It’s like a tem
    ble joke on history.”

    It startles m
    e to hear her w

    ords, hut I am
    startled even m

    ore to think how

    seldom
    any press reporter has observed the irony of nam

    ing segregated
    schools for M

    artin Luther K
    ing. C

    hildren reach the heart of these hrpocrisies
    m

    uch quicker than the grow
    n-ups and the experk do. . . .


    The &

    n
    ride from

    G
    rand C

    entral Station to suburban Rye, N
    e
    w
    Y

    ork,
    takes 35 to 40 m

    inutes. T
    he high school is a short ride from

    the station. B
    uilt

    of handsom
    e gray stone and set in a landscaped cam

    pus, it resem
    bles a N

    F
    England prep school. I enter the school and am

    directed by a student to the
    office. The principal, a rel?xed, unhurried m

    an w
    ho, unlike m

    any urban princi-
    pals, seem

    s gratified to have m
    e visit in his school, takes m

    e in to see the audi-
    torium

    , w
    hich, he says, w

    as recently restored w
    ith private charitable funds

    ($400,000) raised by parents. T
    he crenellated ceiling, w

    hich is w
    hite and spot-

    less, and the polished dark-w
    ood paneling contrast w

    ith the collapsing struc-
    ture of the auditorium

    at [another school I visited]. T
    he principal strikes his

    fist against the balcony: “They m
    ade this place exh.em

    ely solid.” Through a
    w

    indow
    , one can see the spreading branches of a beech tree in the central

    ~
    urtyardof the school.

    In a student lounge, a dozen seniors are relaxing on a cq
    eted

    floor that
    is constructed w

    ith a num
    ber of tiers so that, as the principal explains, “they

    can stretch out and he com
    fortable w

    hile reading.”
    T

    he library is w
    ood-paneled, like the auditorium

    . Students, all of w
    hom

    are w

    hite, %
    seated at private carrels, of w

    hich there are approxim
    ately 40.

    Som
    e are doing hom

    ew
    ork; others are looking through the N

    ew
    York Times.

    Every student that I see during m
    y visit to the school is w

    hite or A
    sian, though

    I later learn there are a num
    ber of H

    ispanic students and that 1
    or 2 percent

    of students in the school are black.
    The typical student, the principal says, studies a foreign language for four

    or five years, beginning in the junior high school, and a second foreign lan-

    p
    ag

    e (Latin is available) for tw
    o years. O

    f 140 seniors, 92 are now
    enrolled in

    AP
    [advanced placem

    ent] classes. M
    axim

    um
    teacher salaq w

    ill soon reach
    $70,000. Per-pupil funding is above $12,000 at the tim

    e I visit.
    The students I m

    eet include eleventh and tw
    elfth graders. The teacher

    tells m
    e that the class is reading R

    obert C
    oles, Studs Terkel, A

    lice W
    alker. H

    e
    tells m

    e I w
    ill find them

    m
    ore than w

    illing to engage m
    e in debate, and this

    turns out to be correct. Prim
    ed for m

    y visit, it appears, they nm
    ow

    in directly
    on the dual questions of equality and race.

    Three general positions soon em
    erge and seem

    to he accepted w
    idely.

    T
    he

    n
    t

    that the fiscal inequalities “do m
    atter very m

    uch” in shaping w
    hat a

    schoo
    offer (‘That isobvious:

    one student says) and that any loss of funds
    @i?

    in R
    ye, as a potential consequence of future equalizing, w

    ould be dam
    aging to

    m
    any thingsthe tow

    n regards as quite essential.
    The econd

    osition is that racial integration-for
    exam

    ple, by the
    of black c

    n from
    the city or a nonw

    hite suburb to this school-w
    ou

    d
    m

    eet w
    ith strong resistance, and the reason w

    ould not sim
    ply be the fear that

    certain standards m
    ight decline. The reason, several students say straightfor-

    w
    ardly, is “racial” or, as others say it, “out-and-out racism

    ” on the part of
    adults.

    rd. oslhon vo~ced by m
    any students, hut not d

    ,is +at equity is

    Q

    Q

    T
    he@

    s?
    basically a go

    to ‘be’
    deslred
    ;

    and should be pursued for m
    oral reasons, hut

    “w
    ill probably m

    ake no m
    ajor difference” since poor children “still w

    ould lack
    the m

    otivation” and “w
    ould

    fail in any case because of other prob-
    lem

    s.” At this point, I ask if they can td
    y

    say “it w
    ouldn’t m

    ake a difference”
    since it’s never been attem

    pted. Several students then seem
    to rethink their

    view
    s and say that “it m

    ight w
    ork, but it w

    ould have to start w
    ith preschool and

    the elem
    en

    q
    grades” and “it m

    ight he 20 years before w
    e’d see a differ-

    e~
    ce.”

    A
    t this stage in the discussion, several students speak w

    ith som
    e real feel-

    ing of the present inequalities, w
    hich, they say, are “obviously unfair,” and one

    student goes a little further and proposes that “w
    e need to change a lot m

    ore
    than the schools.” A

    nother says she’d favor racial integration “by w
    hatever

    m
    eans-including

    busing-ven
    if the parents disapprove.” B

    ut a contradic-
    tory opinion also is expressed w

    ith a good deal of fervor and is stated by one
    student in a rather biting voice: “I don’t see w

    hy w
    e should do it. H

    ow
    could it

    be of benefit to us?
    Throughout the discussion, w

    hatever the view
    s the children voice, there

    is a degree of unreality about the w
    hole exchange. The children are lucid and

    their language is w
    ell chosen and their argum

    ents w
    ell m

    ade, hut there is a
    sense that they are dealing w

    ith an issue that does not feel very vivid and that
    nothing that w

    e say about it to eachother really m
    atters since it’s ‘just a theo-

    retical discussion.” To a certain degree, the skillfulness and cleverness that

    Savage
    Inequalities

    1
    337

    they display seem
    to derive precisely from

    this sense of unreality. Q
    uestions of

    unfairness feel m
    ore like a geom

    etric problem
    than a m

    atter of hum
    anity or

    conscience. A
    few

    of the students do break through the note of unreality, hut,
    w

    hen they do, they cease,to be so agde in their use of w
    ords and speak m

    ore
    aw

    kw
    ardly. Ethical challenges seem

    to threaten their effectiveness. There is
    the sense that they w

    ere skating over ice and that the issues w
    e addressed

    w
    ere safely frozen underneath. W

    hen they stop to look beneath the ice they
    s

    M
    to stum

    ble. The G
    erhal com

    petence they have acquired here m
    ay have

    been gained by building w
    alls around som

    e regions of the heart
    “I don’t think that busing students from

    their ghetto to a different school
    w

    ould do m
    uch good:’

    one student says. ‘Y
    ou can take them

    out of the envi-
    ronm

    ent, but you can’t take the environm
    ent out of them

    . If som
    eone grow

    s
    up in the South Bronx, he’s not going to be prone to learn.” H

    is nam
    e is M

    ax
    and he has short black hair and speaks w

    ith confidence. -B
    using didn’t w

    ork
    w

    hen it w
    as tried,” he says. I ask him

    how
    he know

    s this and he says he saw
    a

    television m
    ovie about B

    oston.
    ‘,I agree that it’s unfair the w

    ay it is,” another student says. ‘W
    e have A

    P
    [A

    dvanced Placem
    ent] courses and they don’t. O

    ur classes are m
    uch sm

    aller.”
    B

    ut, she says, “putting them
    in schools like ours is not the answ

    er. W
    hy not

    put som
    e A

    P classes into their school? Fix the roof and paint the halls so it d

    not he so depressing.”
    The students h

    o
    w

    the term
    “separate hut equal,” hut seem

    unaw
    are of

    its historical associations. “K
    eep them

    w
    here they are hut m

    ake it equal,” says
    .a girl in the front row

    .
    A

    student nam
    ed Jennifer, w

    hose m
    anner of speech is som

    ew
    hat less re-

    fined and polished than that of the others, tells m
    e that her parents cam

    e here
    from

    N
    ew

    Y
    ork. “M

    y fam
    ily is originally from

    the Bronx. Schools are hell
    there. That’s one reason that w

    e m
    oved. I don’t think it’s our responsibility to

    pay our taxes to provide for them
    . I m

    ean, m
    y pe-e&

    ethere
    and

    they w
    anted to get out. There’s no point in com

    isfo a
    lace_&

    &
    w

    here
    schools are good, and then your t

    a
    x

    e
    ~

    s
    ~

    ~
    ~

    ~
    c

    ;
    ~

    ~
    t

    h
    ~

    pl~

    i%
    ere you began.”

    I bait her a hit: “D
    o you m

    ean that, now
    that you are not in hell, you have

    no feeling for the people that you left behind?”
    “It has to be the people in the area w

    ho w
    ant an education. If your par-

    ents just don’t care, it w
    on’t do any good to spend a lot of m

    oney. Som
    eone

    else can’t w
    ant a good life for yon. You have got to w

    ant it for yourseIf:
    Then

    she adds, how
    ever, “I agree that everyone should have a chance at ta

    h
    g

    the
    sam

    e courses. . . .

    I ask her if she’d think it fair to pay m
    ore taxes so that this w

    as possible.
    “I don? see how

    that benefits me:
    she says.

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