Savage Inequalities, Essay Example

According to Jonathan Kozol, a number of “savage inequalities” exist among students from schools in East St. Louis. Kozol is right. The differences among students from three schools in the area are staggering. The most wealthy school Kozol talks about is New Tier, where students have small class sizes and 27 acres on which to learn, interact and engage in academic activities. The students have a sports wing with three gyms. Each freshman student is assigned an advisor who will continue to counsel him throughout his schooling. Over 90% of the students who attend New Tier will go on to college – most to good schools. The students have a plethora of opportunities. They have their own science lab, have many options in sports, music and drama and are treated to a wealth of literary learning – including instruction on Plato, Nietzsche and Darwin. The school is immaculately kept by a team of over 40 custodians.

The other schools in the area have nothing like the opportunities of New Tier.  Martin Luther King Junior High School, for instance, has had to be shut down because failing sewage pumps. On two occasions, sewage leaked into its kitchens. Staff is underpaid and overworked and the schools are overcrowded. While New Tier has three gyms, Martin Luther King Junior High School barely has one. It cannot afford goal posts for football. The students wear patched up rags as uniforms. According to the football coach, only 55% of the students will graduate high school and only one in four of the graduates will go to college. This is a very small percentage when compared to the high graduation rate at New Tier. The conditions of the two schools and the opportunities that come with them, then, directly affect the future of the students who attend school.

Students who do not graduate from high school are more likely than those who do not to continue to live in poverty. Because they do not have the opportunity to advance, many of the students who do not graduate will end up raising children in much the same way. They will continue to live in a cycle of poverty. One coach even suggests that the poverty will lead to violence.