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 inequities in schools and districts 
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After reading Jonathan Kozol's book, Savage Inequalities, I was amazed at the differences in educational quality in school districts in our country. To read about the schools and districts that Kozol wrote about in his book, and their quite apparent discrepancies in equality, funding, and efforts to provide children in all schools and districts across our country a high quality education was an "eye opener" to me. I began to think about my own school and the district in which I am employed. I realize that even though I, as a teacher, tend to spend quite a bit of my own income to buy materials that will allow me to try to provide the highest quality educational activies for my students, I am in a school and district that is able to provide a building that is kept in good repair, highly educated and qualified teachers and staff, and resources of all kinds that enable us to teach our students in a very fair and "better than efficient manner." I am interested to find out how you feel about the schoos and districts in which you teach. Do you feel as though they are able to provide materials, and services to give your students a high quality of education?

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Elizabeth Lawson


Sat Aug 26, 2006 11:08 am
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I also stepped back and was thinking of my own situation as I was reading Savage Inequalities. I thought about how my school is in relation to the schools around the area. I see the inequalities on a smaller scale in our area. There is what is called the "lake schools" in our area that are supposed to be part of our county. They charge an extra tax than what the county charges. This way they always have more programs, supplies, and funds. Teachers always want to work there because they receive their bonus money every year for their schools making AYP. It is more difficult to keep teachers in the city of Statesville because of resources,etc. The book was a definate eye opener.

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Lindsey Mehall


Last edited by Lindsey Mehall on Mon Aug 28, 2006 6:06 pm, edited 1 time in total.



Sun Aug 27, 2006 12:10 pm
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Lindsey,

The book was a definate "eye opener" to me, too. Your example of the "lake schools" in your district is a very good example of the inequities that are here were we are, close to home.

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Elizabeth Lawson


Sun Aug 27, 2006 1:53 pm
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Location: Conover, NC
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After learning that my district is ranked 5th highest in the state for its poverty level, I just cannot imagine the diplorable conditions in the schools in which Kozol visited. There may be times that we lack things, but we always have the more necessary items like working toilets and books. I thought about Charlotte's schools because, even though they have rich areas, I'm almost pretty sure there are some places I wouldn't like to venture.

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Lisa Bernosky-Wade
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South Newton Elementary


Sun Aug 27, 2006 6:35 pm
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Hi Elizabeth

I feel like the school where I teach provides faculty and students with numerous materials. Last year a colleague of mine and I counted over 15 programs that our first graders would be exposed to over the course of the year. We are so fortunate!!! It just broke my heart to read the struggles in Savage Inequalities.

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Tasha Sigmon


Mon Aug 28, 2006 2:56 pm
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I, too, was flabbergasted at the descriptions of the schools in the book. I know that the data is not very recent and I can't help but wonder if Kozol's book has made a difference. I was reading the book as I was traveling to New Hampshire in early August-- when I was touring Philedelphia, the tour guide talked about Camden, NJ across the bridge. They are really building it up now and it is not as bad as it was in Kozol's book. We drove through there on our way to New Hampshire and it wasn't all that bad--I have seen worse areas in the US. I looked up the Camden schools on the internet and from the pictures there did seem to be a big improvement. Is this partly because of the awareness Kozol brought about or No Child Left Behind? I don't know, but I hope things are getting better for all children.

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Mimi Starnes


Thu Aug 31, 2006 1:16 pm
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Hi Mimi,

I think it is great that your were able to actually see one of these places that Kozol wrote about in his book. I have thought about how I would like to visit some of these schools myself and see if they are still like Kozol described or if major improvements have been made. I was in Chicago briefly this summer on a business trip with my husband. I would have loved to have "looked up" North Lawndale, the industrial slum that has "one bank, one supermarket, 48 state lottery agents...and 99 licensed bars and liquor stores." I would like to visit the Mary McLeod Bethune School and hope that conditions there have drastically improved over the years. Seeing that the infant death rate is so high made me wonder how things like this can continue in America.

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Elizabeth Lawson


Thu Aug 31, 2006 8:37 pm
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I am aghast at the situations that this book detailed. I feel ignorant that I am just now reading of these obscene inequalities in an era where I feel we should be away from that.... I wonder if ignorance is in part why these conditions are allowed to persist. I just wonder, nationally, how many people knew about these schools with raw sewage, etc... I'd like to think that our society as a whole would have made some movement to rectify the situation.
Surely these students are not receiving a basic or sound education....
I also wonder exactly how these differences are rationalized in the localities where they exist. Is it a situation where the poor, mostly non-white schools are within a different district, a case where the richest pay the least taxes but have the larger tax base? Or is it less "innocent" than that? Is it out-and-out racism, where schools within the sam district are given this absurdly unequal treatment? IT's JUST ALMOST UNFATHOMABLE TO ME!!!
I wish more people read this book....I wish tehre were something I could DO!

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Bobbi Faulkner


Mon Sep 04, 2006 10:46 pm
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