Rating: 
Summary: I Had No Idea It Was So Bad
Review: An amazing exploration of classroom inequalities, from Beverely Hills to inner-city New York. Learn how our system creates pockets of poverty amid bubbles of wealth. Kozol breaks it down for the reader in black and white: It's a matter of funding. Why do some schools have 10 times the bugget of others? Why do some school lack the funds to buy adequate textbooks or draw good teachers? The facts will shock you. Without equal federal funding, the school system is terribly unequal, and the product of this inquality is illiteracy, high drop-out rates, and a host of other problems. As Kozol shows us in his book, bad genes are not the issue. This is not a case of inherited IQ or laziness. The problem is our social system: a system where some children are given glorious opportunities, while others are left in the dust. To quote Thoreau, "For every ten people hacking away at the Tree of Evil, only one is hacking at the roots." Make no mistake, Kozol is among that ten percent. His axe is sharp, and he has taken direct aim at the problem. A must read for anyone vaguely concerned with inequality, democracy, or social justice.
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Summary: The shocking truth about public schools in America
Review: As a student in a mostly white, affluent area, I always assumed that the education debate was blowing things out of proportion and that most schools were more or less equal. After reading this book I realized how ignorant I was about public education in the United States. Jonathan Kozol examines several different areas that are predominantly African American and Hispanic and compares their schools to areas that are mostly white. The results are shocking. Kozol's book shows that segregation does still exist in the United States and that it impacts the most innocent people of all--children. For people born into poor neighborhoods, there is little hope of moving up in the world because of horrible conditions at schools starting at an early age. At several points, Kozol's descriptions made me cry because I felt so ashamed of the way people are treated even in America, which is built on the principle that all are treated equally. This book is important for all people to read (not just parents and educators) because it promotes awareness about one of the biggest and most invisible problems in contemporary American society.
Rating: 
Summary: A Man With An Agenda ... And Some Facts
Review: Kozol's book definitely is reminiscent of Upton Sinclair's "The Jungle" in that it attempts to expose the harsh realities of today's school systems. Kozol is good about laying most of the facts on the line, but plays up the negatives and plays down the positive facts. For instance, the reader learns of the disturbing state of sewage around predominantly black schools in East St. Louis. Since the publication, TWO studies by the EPA commissioned by President Clinton showed that 'environmental racism' doesn't exist ... yet these reports never made it to public view for fear of a minority backlash according to the Detroit News. The attitudes of some of the children are disheartening - a young girl talks of someday having a great wedding with diamonds and moving to a big house in Nebraska ... and then kicking her husband out (after she gets a house and money) and living with someone she 'really' likes. This is disturbing, especially as the girl's mother 'passes it off.' Although, as Kozol notes, money is not the biggest issue in a child's young life, it remains an issue. Ultimately, young children should have the same public education ... but let's bring the poor up without bringing the upper class down. Otherwise, dissention between the poor and rich will further grow. Kozol's book is very one-sided and his stories will tug at your emotions. However, the facts just don't back up a lot of his stories on a widespread notion. Ultimately, it's the parents and it's the environment that shapes the kid - not completely the schools. As many in Kozol's book noted (and Kozol downplayed greatly), if a kid goes to a grade A private school for six hours a day, but goes home to an alcoholic mother and an abusive dad, the kid is at a disadvantage to begin with. Let's educate all kids in the business of responsible parenting and go from there. Nevertheless, it's a good read and a controversial one at that.
Rating:
Summary: eye opening
Review: i couldn't put this book down when i started reading it. each essay, which covers a particular city and school system, points out things wrong with public education in the USA, and who's getting the shaft: KIDS. some of the essays are jaw-dropping. i would've never believed it was so bad out there, but moreso, i didn't understand or even begin to see the politics involved in public education at each and every level. education may be a major political issue at the national level, but as it seeps down into district, local politics, that's where the mismanagement, corruption, bloat, and simple lack of care become most astonishing. as a teacher in the NYC public school system, most of what i read in kozol's book, i have come to see (i read the book before i started teaching) in real life: 30 books for 180+ students; roaches and rats in the classrooms; inept and careless administrators; rampant truancy and disaffection (but can you blame the kids? they are often left at home while the parent--usually one--works two or more jobs). the problems are severe and the solutions, you'd think, would be just as severe. but nothing changes and teachers are left in the middle, blamed by both administrators and parents. public education in this country needs to be seriouly revamped, but according to Kozol, and my own views and what i've seen, it's unlikely anything will change for URBAN education until racism and inequality are also addressed.
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Summary: Awakened to reality
Review: Jonathan Kozol is adept at making his readers uncomfortable. Savage Inequalities is not a book to read at bedtime if you desire a peaceful night's sleep. But that's a good thing, because too many of us need to be awakened to the stark realities of the public school systems in communities such as East St. Louis, Camden, and the Bronx.Kozol combines concrete data with heart-wrenching commentary on the hopeless conditions facing children in neglected communities. He details the system which seems to insure the widening of the great divide between the privileged school districts of the suburbs and the criminally depleted urban school districts. In Savage Inequalities, Kozol quotes a parent commenting on how the schools reflect their communities: "[it's] as if the duty of the school were to prepare a child for the life he's born to.... It hardly seems fair." There is no fairness, and Kozol has accurately painted a fair picture of this. We've wasted too many innocent, promising lives, and will continue do so if we don't have schools capable of delivering hope to children in our suffering urban neighborhoods.
Rating: 
Summary: An eye opener
Review: This book allowed the reader to see what it is like for people who live in poor neighborhoods to receive an education. The school sytems in these neighborhoods do not have adequate staffing or supplies. Most of the areas are plagued with violence and or businesses that produce pollution. It shows the differences in poor and affluent towns. It also shows how the affluent towns would not let their children be intergrated with children who are different
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Summary: Education Reform Needed?
Review: One of the hot topics under the Bush administration (and under many others as well) is education reform. It is safe to say that those who think school uniforms, vouchers, just say no, and after school, basketball programs have not read this book. When the basics are not available such as books, teachers, safe schools, and toilet paper, reforming schools must go way beyond the simple mindedness of a new exterior coat of paint. This book provides examples of inequality in the U.S. schools that should shame anyone who believes there is equality in U.S. schools. Giving a affluent kid (or at least a child whose parents can afford a private school education) provides an out for a few, but for the rest of the children who must survive at the public school they did not "choice" to attend, life will become even worse. The solution is clear, but neither Democratic nor Republican leaders want to hear it. The solution is federal education funding. Then the next step is to rebuild and modernize all schools that need it. Finally, whether people like it or not this is a money first society. Teachers should be paid better salaries in hopes of recruiting more teachers, and attracting those potential students who are not sure four to eight more years of school is worth $32,000 a year. In most cities, Taco Bell managers make more money, garbage handlers make more money, coaches make more money, police officers make more money, etc. I believe being a garbage handler is an important job, and I believe in paying people a quality wage. However, the responsibility a teacher has in shaping the minds of our youth is monumental. It is obvious to the U.S. children and to the rest of the world that education is not the number one priority politicians say it is. This book is a testimony of that lack of concern by U.S. politicians, and of the privileged who have the power to change the status quo.
Rating:
Summary: Very Informative
Review: This book will prick the conscience of most Americans. It is a journal of observations from the author's visits to a half dozen urban school systems, and his interpretation of what he saw. He is basically arguing that segregation is still a reality in American education, and that it is so entrenched that it is no longer seriously questioned. His most powerful revelation is the total inadequacy of funding public education based on local property taxes. Wealthy areas receive more funding, poor areas are overwhelmed by inadequate resources. This book will help you see through all the platitudes of the media and politicians regarding answers to America's educational problems. Kozol calls for a complete overhaul of our system of funding education, in order to establish greater equality.
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Summary: today's children
Review: I am an education major and was required to read a book this semester. At first I did not want to read "Savage Inequalities" but once I started reading it I counld not put the book down. Itis a really good book that parents and teachers should read. I say that because this book really shows how some people do not have the everyday priviledges like normal students. Edu. is free and children today should take the advantage of it. It was kids in this book that had to literally walk through garbage just to get to school. This is an excellent book to read to better undersatnd what some kids might have to go through on a day to day basis.
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Summary: ATTENTION AMERICANS!
Review: SAVAGE INEQUALITIES, is an informative and emotional book about the inequalities of public schools in America. The stories Kozol gives about inner city schools and the quality of education they receive compared to suburban schools is shocking. It is even more shocking to know that the conditions of the inner city schools mentioned in the book, are the conditions that our priveleged Nation gives to young Americans. This is a very sad and eye-opening book that should be read by all people that feel America gives their citezens an equal opportunity to succeed.
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