Twitter Book Club: Jonathan Kozol (1991) Savage Inequalities: Children in America's Schools - Chapter 1

This is perhaps the least pleasant book on education but one of the "must reads" for educators, administrators, and policymakers. While reading this book I had at least one colleague say that while she agrees with everything Kozol says in this book, she can never finish it because what he says is so troubling. I understand that feeling but at the same time I had almost the exact opposite reaction. Instead of making me feel like I couldn't read any more I felt compelled, as if it were my duty, to finish it. The worst part is that even though this was written twenty years ago almost everything Jonathan says in this book is still true today, maybe worse. Savage Inequalities really is a referendum on American culture. It holds a mirror to a society that on the one hand values personal liberty and regards those who have achieved and exceeded the American dream as role models for the rest of us while at the same time allowing third world living conditions to exist for vast numbers of poor and minorities.

Also, as I read this book I kept thinking about the short-lived cartoon the Oblongs which was about a family that lived in the valley, near all the toxic waste and pollution, with all the other poor and discarded while on the hill lived the very wealthy. I really need to take some time to rediscover that cartoon series.

part 2 | part 3

The sad thing is that when the Oblongs appeared on television, long after Kozol wrote this book, the same exact issues he raised appear here as satire. Presented in this fashion they seem almost comical and unreal but for many students these issues are all too real.

Chapter 1
Life on the Mississippi: East St. Louis, Illinois

@anderscj
anderscj"The pattern of concentrating black communities in easily flooded lowland areas is not unusual in the United States... http://t.co/MNL7quWc 28 days ago via Twittelator · powered by @socialditto

"The pattern of concentrating black communities in easily flooded lowland areas is not unusual in the United States...Sadly, although dirt and water flow downhill, money and services do not." Kozol

Of course, we know all too well now the sinister and disastrous reality of this statement.



And if Hurricane Katrina isn't enough to prove this point, how about this more recent video by Brave New Films:

@anderscj
anderscj"'The lottery advertises mostly in black publications,' Ahmed says. 'So people who have nothing to start with waste... http://t.co/yZfKvV95 28 days ago via Twittelator · powered by @socialditto

@anderscj
anderscj"When people ask, 'What should we do with East St. Louis?' they don't speak about the people. They are speaking of the land." Kozol 28 days ago via Twittelator · powered by @socialditto

In case you've never been to East St. Louis, you can explore it here in Google Maps Streetview:


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@anderscj
anderscj"'In certain ways,' he says, 'it's harder now because in those days it was a clear enemy you had to face, a man in ... http://t.co/CUQtCU8w 28 days ago via Twittelator · powered by @socialditto

@anderscj
anderscj"'Gifted children,' says Dr. Parks, 'are everywhere in East St. Louis, but their gifts are lost to poverty and turm... http://t.co/kHd2V75J 28 days ago via Twittelator · powered by @socialditto

This reminds me of the last scene of one of my favorite films Basquiat:

@anderscj
anderscj"She hesitates and then finds the word: 'perfunctory.'
I ask her what she means.
'We have a school in East St. Loui... http://t.co/gFROLJNU 28 days ago via Twittelator · powered by @socialditto

Important quote from this paragraph:

"She hesitates and then finds the word: 'perfunctory.'
I ask her what she means.
'We have a school in East St. Louis named for Dr. King,' she says, 'The school is full of sewer water and the doors are locked with chains. Every student in that school is black. It's a terrible joke on history.'" Kozol