Chapter 2 illustrates how corrupt our education system is in our nation and how all children are not offered the same equal opportunity to a good education. Jonathan Kozol further emphasizes on the inequalities of education funding in the nation and describes how the wealthy are unwilling to throw in money into failing school because they figure, “what’s the point?” He also compares inner city schools possessing characteristics of a totalitarian government or an atmosphere similar to that of a prison. He also iterates the fact that even when the economy and financial markets soar, none of the proceeds go to serve the schools of the poor, where school building’s window frames are rotting and glass panels are falling into the street.
Chapter 3 further emphasizes how different inner city schools are compared to suburban schools. Kozol describes inner city schools as “embracing pedagogy of direct command and absolute control….the teacher who is the stimulus and the students who respond” (64). He provides an example of when he visited a P.S. 65 school in the South Bronx, describing the silent lunches being instituted in the cafeteria and sometimes even at recess! Even in the classroom if a child were to interrupt or make any sort of distraction, the teacher would make a swift gesture with his or her hand to silent the children. Kozol described it as a “strange salute the teachers gave to the class.” Furthermore, all of the students are divided into 4 levels that separate each other based on their grades and how well they abide by the rules. The students are even assessed on “the way they march along the corridors.” From this notion, he wants to illustrate that schools like P.S. 65 discourage and humiliate their students.
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