Sign in with Facebook
Loading...
3rd out of 295 books
—
209 voters
Savage Inequalities: Children in America's Schools
National Book Award-winning author Jonathan Kozol presents his shocking account of the American educational system in this stunning "New York Times" bestseller, which has sold more than 250,000 hardcover copies."An impassioned book, laced with anger and indignation, about how our public education system scorns so many of our children." "--New York Times Book Review"
Paperback, 272 pages
Published
August 3rd 1992
by Harper Perennial
(first published August 27th 1991)
Friend Reviews
To see what your friends thought of this book,
please sign up.
Community Reviews
(showing
1-30
of
3,000)
*FIRST IMPRESSION*
Is this just going to be Mama Might Be Better Off Dead: The Education Chapter?
*HALFWAY THROUGH*
Answer to the question above: yes.
Look, Mr. Kozol, I'm not anti-expose, but I hate being confronted with a tragic and intractable problem to which the author presents no viable solution. Sure, it's important - and crucial - to acknowledge the inequities, to publicize them. But Kozol's hortatory exclamations of "yes, let's equalize the money" do little, if anything at all, toward buil...more
Is this just going to be Mama Might Be Better Off Dead: The Education Chapter?
*HALFWAY THROUGH*
Answer to the question above: yes.
Look, Mr. Kozol, I'm not anti-expose, but I hate being confronted with a tragic and intractable problem to which the author presents no viable solution. Sure, it's important - and crucial - to acknowledge the inequities, to publicize them. But Kozol's hortatory exclamations of "yes, let's equalize the money" do little, if anything at all, toward buil...more
A heart-wrenching jeremiad about the sorry state of minority schools in this country. Kozol has stated in interviews that we are worse off (both in conditions and segregation) than we were before Brown vs. Board of Education. That seems hyperbolic, but after reading his observations here, it's hard to argue. A blistering attack on the use of local property taxes to fund schools, it's also a sobering testament to the intractability of problems of class and race in America. Should be required read...more
Every American should be required to read this book.
Two cases of mothers lying about where they reside in order to get their young children into better school districts have made news recently. In Ohio in January, Kelley Williams-Bolar was sentenced to 10 days in county jail and three years probation for enrolling her children in the Copley-Fairlawn School District rather than Akron, where she lived. "School officials said she was cheating because her daughters received a quality education without paying taxes to fund it," said an ABC article. "T...more
12 likes · like · see review
Jun 01, 2007
Dan
rated it
5 of 5 stars
Recommends it for:
persons interested in social justice and education issues in america
A college professor of mine who i greatly admire once labeled Jonathan Kozol as a modern day prophet. The idea is that he is a person willing to say things that most of us don't want to hear. And that he is willing to say it starkly. Its true. Kozol does an excellent job in this book talking about a number of failing school systems in the country, and then comparing them to thriving (and well-funded) school systems very close by. I read the book a long time ago, but it still resonates, and i st...more
Everyone knows that this is a masterpiece. If you ever found yourself trying to argue with someone who believes that money does not matter in schools and that urban schools need tough leaders to getthemselves together, then read this book. It tears this argument into scraps. Also it helps to debunk the myth that Hollywood sells of dedicated teachers who work magic in the classroom. Schools need resources like buildings and classroom materials. Teachers just need to be not evil before anything el...more
Sep 23, 2007
Katie
rated it
3 of 5 stars
Recommends it for:
future educators, parents who have kids in public schools, and anyone who pays taxes
What did I learn? I learned that without realizing it my tax money is going to creating a segregated system of schooling with unrealistic standards applied to all people's, and held especially high for those who have the least help.
I was especially struck by the statement that Kozol made in regard to testing scores. There is no way for there to be an ever expanding pie of "above average". In order for there to be more above average students there must be students who are performing poorly enough...more
I was especially struck by the statement that Kozol made in regard to testing scores. There is no way for there to be an ever expanding pie of "above average". In order for there to be more above average students there must be students who are performing poorly enough...more
I can't believe I didn't know about this book until recently. It opened my eyes to an education system that I already knew existed but didn't know how bad it was. Kozol looks at several different school districts across the country, poor and rich alike, and explores how there are gross inequities in our public education system. Poor cities and schools have decrepit facilities, outdated books, and less than stellar teachers while rich cities and schools have educational resources fit for the King...more
Based on research from 1989 to 1991, Kozol paints a vivid picture of public schools in America. He focuses primarily on poor inner city schools and their wealthy suburban counterparts. Kozol contends that poor children are cheated out of a future due to the appalling standards (lack of funds, not enough teachers, overcrowding), and believes racial segregation is alive and well in America contributing to these conditions.
Kozol does a good job exposing the poverty and decrepit condition with first...more
Kozol does a good job exposing the poverty and decrepit condition with first...more
Today, the American Dream, the ethos that everyone has the freedom and opportunity
to achieve any ambition, is simply a facade to cover the inequities that face today’s American
societies. Inequality among Americans can be predetermined before adulthood, as American
public school systems are often the roots of this inequity. Jonathan Kozol thoroughly analyzes
these discrepancies among schools in his book: Savage Inequalities. Kozol paints a well-
rounded portrayal of several starkly differently schoo...more
to achieve any ambition, is simply a facade to cover the inequities that face today’s American
societies. Inequality among Americans can be predetermined before adulthood, as American
public school systems are often the roots of this inequity. Jonathan Kozol thoroughly analyzes
these discrepancies among schools in his book: Savage Inequalities. Kozol paints a well-
rounded portrayal of several starkly differently schoo...more
An excellent follow up to Kozol's original work, Death At an Early Age, this book focuses on the school system some 30 years later. Unfortunately, it shows that for the vast majority of poor minority children, the situation is just as horrible and unfair as it ever was under de jure segregation. Unfortunately, the situation has shifted somewhat, so that poor white children are also getting the short end of the stick. Whereas in the 60s, the problem was primarily that black children were not gett...more
Wonderful expose of America's schools and the new racism: education. This book, though written in 1991, is, sadly, still pertinent today. As a teacher in one of the districts mentioned in the book since the year it was written, I can sadly report that NOTHING has changed in 20 years. I spend a lot of my own money on supplies for my classroom, but it will never be enough to give these students the technology they don't have that the suburban districts do. Even though we FINALLY got smartboards in...more
""But [no one] can tell us what it means to a child to leave his often hellish home and go to a school -his hope for a transcendent future-that is literally falling apart."- Jonathan Kozol
If I could choose one book to give to people who seem to be oblivious to the ways in which racial inequalities are often put into place from a very, very early age, it would be this one. I'm often dumbfounded when I encounter someone who honestly believes that every has the same opportunities in life in America...more
If I could choose one book to give to people who seem to be oblivious to the ways in which racial inequalities are often put into place from a very, very early age, it would be this one. I'm often dumbfounded when I encounter someone who honestly believes that every has the same opportunities in life in America...more
A thoroughly depressing book that, while written 20 years ago, one suspects to be in essence still accurate today. Major ideas include how wealthy school districts routinely spend twice as much per student as their poorer counter parts. Gerrymandering and defacto racism and segregation is still a huge but unacknowledged problem in inner cities. Inner cities are unable to raise the same money the suburbs are because both their property and income is lower than that of the suburbs and has a great...more
This was a book left over from my college days that I never finished back then but thought it might be worth a read. While the points Kozol makes are valid, I felt that every chapter was 'pity the black kids, the white man is evil'. He visited urban school districts in the late 1980s and early 1990s, as well as their suburban counterparts, and this book was a summary of what he found. In all cases, the urban districts were >90% non-white students with high dropout rates, minimal funding, and...more
This is one of the most compelling books I've ever read. Written in 1991, it is Kozol's account of the state of inner-city public schools at the time, and sadly, I believe the analysis to be practically unchanged in the intervening twenty years. It was especially meaningful for me as I try to move to a job in charter school management, both reinforcing the importance of the work and complicating my view of the problem and its solution.
Kozol does not pull any punches, and at times this book was q...more
Kozol does not pull any punches, and at times this book was q...more
Before reading “Savage Inequalities,” if someone came up to me and said, “Systemic racial segregation continues to exist in our public schools today,” I would have considered this an exaggeration. We’ve come a long way from the days of “colored” bathrooms and drinking fountains. Reading “Savage Inequalities” has challenged this notion of mine.
Kozol takes an in-depth look at how the public school system in America, despite common belief, has remained largely separate and unequal. But his book isn...more
This was probably the most depressing book I have ever read, but also the most necessary. It's 20 years old, so I'd be interested to see if there has been any improvement at the schools he discusses, but the fact that this was happening at any time after Brown vs. Board of Education is so discouraging to put it mildly. There is absolutely no excuse for kids having to learn in buildings that are literally falling down around them - I don't care what color skin they have. If we really want to be k...more
This was incredibly depressing and hard to read. Each description of an elementary school was more shocking and depressing than the last. 30+ students per class with multiple classes sharing the gym, school buildings absolutely falling down, drugs and depression growing rampant within the communities, diseases and alleged mental retardation due to toxic chemicals and pollution in some cases, statistics that absolutely blow your mind about dropout rates vs. graduation vs. prison etc etc etc. Jona...more
This was a book from Scott's English class his first year at Las Positas. I ended up reading most of it while helping him formulate ideas for his essays. It was a huge eye-opener for me. The author traveled around the country and spent time at various inner-city schools. The differences between the 'haves' and the 'have nots' was staggering. There is an underlying theory that from as early as the start of our country, this "system" of keeping the majority of the people at a much lower level in o...more
Kozol's writing smolders with fury, and this book imparts this fury onto the reader. If you read this and you are not moved to action, then it has not served its purpose. He relentlessly lays bare the reality of segregation and inequity in America's public education system, and this is a problem that has not lessened in scope nor intensity almost a decade after this was published. The fact is that even the most liberal minded people conveniently overlook reality when they move somewhere (or pull...more
The saddest thing about this book is all the information the author gathered in the early 1990s about inequities in American public education are probably still true and the situation is, in fact, probably worse. This is a well-researched and compelling account of Kozol's visits to both intercity urban public schools and their well-heeled suburban neighbors. The book hinges on the question: Why does public education depend on local property taxes when the practice leads to continued inequalities...more
I read the book “Savage Inequalities” by Jonathan Kozol. This book was about how when Jonathan traveled to different schools he saw segregation between the different races of students. He visited schools in East St. Louis, Chicago, Washington, D.C., and New Jersey and saw that black and hispanic children were being separated from the white students.He wants all children of separate races and economic class to be given an equal education as well as up to date books and school supplies with an equ...more
Excellent book, Kozol visits public schools in different areas of the country and explores how funding disparities due to the continued reliance on property taxes for school funding, directly disadvantage poor children in poor communities. He uncovers the unflappable positive attitude of children trapped in run-down, horrendous schools, how it effects their learning, what it says about how the rest of the society view certain groups (and what these children internalize) and how that effects thei...more
This is an important book. It does a great job of giving a detailed descripitio of the spectrum of school quality in our country. Of course it is disheartening to see the inequality and the lack of leadership in poor urban schools, but what is even more disturbing is the limited change that has occurred since the book was published in 1991. The one problem with the book (and it's a big one) is that Kozol spends the whole time showing the funding disparaties between poor and rich school districts...more
I had read Rachel & Her Children before this, and again, I leave this book with my heart saddened. Kozol writes of the injustices of our systems with simple and pure honesty that cannot be denied; in Savage Inequalities, it is the honesty of children that speak volumes for public education. I do not know how educational policy is used or created to allow any child to experience the conditions that Kozol writes of. If it was your children, what would you do?
Came across this at the end. Found...more
Came across this at the end. Found...more
Jake Izzo
In the novel, Savage Inequalities: Children in America’s Schools the author Jonathan Kozol conveys an extremely strong message. Kozol went to visit many school systems in poor urban areas all around the country. He visited inner city schools in East St. Louis, New York, Washington D.C. and Chicago, comparing them to each other. As he visited these inner city schools he acquired information and statistics. All of the statistics were extreme and unusual to people who live or grew up in...more
In the novel, Savage Inequalities: Children in America’s Schools the author Jonathan Kozol conveys an extremely strong message. Kozol went to visit many school systems in poor urban areas all around the country. He visited inner city schools in East St. Louis, New York, Washington D.C. and Chicago, comparing them to each other. As he visited these inner city schools he acquired information and statistics. All of the statistics were extreme and unusual to people who live or grew up in...more
Dec 12, 2008
Katie
added it
I read this book for an english class and was not looking forward to begining it. The first chapter began with talking about "sewage-covered streets" and a murder that occured behind the local school. Who would really want to read about that? I d known from reading the book's description that the book would be about the "not so great" schools in America, but I had no idea how "not so great" they really were.
As I read on, I found the book more and more interesting. It really opened my eyes to jus...more
As I read on, I found the book more and more interesting. It really opened my eyes to jus...more
I think that this is an important book in terms of understanding racially organized funding inequity in the American public school system. It is an emotionally powerful and heartwrenching critique of the way schools are funded and many poor urban children are robbed of a basic American right. Unfortunately it neglects similar inequities in poor rural communities and the book is poorly organized. I felt lucky that he bothered to organize it generally by geograhic region because most of the time i...more
RE: Milken v. Bradley
Justice Thurgood Marshall, who had litigated Brown v. Board of Education 20 years before, expanded these points further. After "20 years of small, often difficult steps" toward equal justice, Marshall said, "the Court today takes a giant step backwards … Our nation, I fear, will be ill-served by the Court's refusal to remedy separate and unequal education. …" The majority's decision, he said, was "a reflection of a perceived public mood that we have gone far enough in enforc...more
Justice Thurgood Marshall, who had litigated Brown v. Board of Education 20 years before, expanded these points further. After "20 years of small, often difficult steps" toward equal justice, Marshall said, "the Court today takes a giant step backwards … Our nation, I fear, will be ill-served by the Court's refusal to remedy separate and unequal education. …" The majority's decision, he said, was "a reflection of a perceived public mood that we have gone far enough in enforc...more
| topics | posts | views | last activity | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Kozol | 3 | 40 | Sep 26, 2011 02:36pm |
Jonathan Kozol is a non-fiction writer, educator, and activist best known for his work towards reforming American public schools. Upon graduating from Harvard, he received a Rhodes scholarship. After returning to the United States, Kozol became a teacher in the Boston Public Schools, until he was fired for teaching a Langston Hughes poem. Kozol has held two Guggenheim Fellowships, has twice been a...more
More about Jonathan Kozol...
Share This Book
2 trivia questions
More quizzes & trivia...
“There is a belief advanced today, and in some cases by conservative black authors, that poor children and particularly black children should not be allowed to hear too much about these matters. If they learn how much less they are getting than rich children, we are told, this knowledge may induce them to regard themselves as "victims," and such "victim-thinking," it is argued, may then undermine their capacity to profit from whatever opportunities may actually exist. But this is a matter of psychology-or strategy-and not reality. The matter, in any case, is academic since most adolescents in the poorest neighborhoods learn very soon that they are getting less than children in the wealthier school districts. They see suburban schools on television and they see them when they travel for athletic competitions. It is a waste of time to worry whether we should tell them something they could tell to us. About injustice, most poor children in American cannot be fooled.”
—
6 people liked it
“Placing the burden on the individual to break down doors in finding better education for a child is attractive to conservatives because it reaffirms their faith in individual ambition and autonomy. But to ask an individual to break down doors that we have chained and bolted in advance of his arrival is unfair.”
—
5 people liked it
More quotes…
Jan 06, 2013 09:52am