48 pages 1 hour read

Jonathan Kozol

Savage Inequalities

Nonfiction | Book | Adult | Published in 1991

A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.

Chapter 2

Chapter Summaries & Analyses

Chapter 2 Summary: "Other People's Children: North Lawndale and the South Side of Chicago"

The next chapter directly illustrates the inequality in education, comparing an affluent neighborhood and an impoverished one. The affluent neighborhood is Winnetka, north of Chicago; the impoverished neighborhood is North Lawndale, west on the Eisenhower Expressway. North Lawndale is an impoverished community, whose economic isolation has been worsening steadily in recent decades. Once the headquarters of Sears Roebuck, crime has been steadily on the rise. The narrative centers on Mary McLeod Bethune School in North Lawndale. Kozol writes that 12 years from now, 14 of the 23 children will drop out of school, and only one will go to college. Many of the students, all of them Black, are classified as "learning disabled." The teacher of this classroom describes the system as a game, in which the students pass from one grade to the next without any real advancement. The problem, he says, is the system of school selection known as "magnet schools."

Magnet schools, Kozol writes, are a system by which parents may opt to send their children to higher-performing schools. This however, drains resources from already-distressed schools, further damaging their prospects. Kozol argues that this system of school choice creates a situation that compounds the economic isolation these schools already face.

Related Titles

By Jonathan Kozol

Plot Summary

logo

Death at an Early Age

Jonathan Kozol

Death at an Early Age

Jonathan Kozol

Study Guide

logo

Fire in the Ashes

Jonathan Kozol

Fire in the Ashes

Jonathan Kozol

Study Guide

logo

Letters to a Young Teacher

Jonathan Kozol

Letters to a Young Teacher

Jonathan Kozol

Plot Summary

logo

Rachel and Her Children: Homeless Families in America

Jonathan Kozol

Rachel and Her Children: Homeless Families in America

Jonathan Kozol

Study Guide

logo

The Shame of the Nation

Jonathan Kozol

The Shame of the Nation: The Restoration of Apartheid Schooling in America

Jonathan Kozol