Schooling in the United States: Savage Inequalities
“Public School 261?” Head down Jerome Avenue and look for the mortician’s office.” Off for a day studying the New York City schools, Jonathan Kozol parks his care and walks toward PS261. Finding PS 261 is not easy because the school has no sign. In fact, the building is a former roller rink and doesn’t does look much like a school at all.
The principal explains that this is a minority area of the North Bronx, so the population of PS 261 is 90 percent African American and Hispanic. Officially, the school should serve 900 students, but it actually enrolls 1,300. The rules say class size should not exceed 32, but Kozol observes that it sometimes approaches 40. Because the school has just one small cafeteria the children must eat in three shifts. After lunch, with no place to play, students squirm in their seats until told to return to their classrooms. Only one classroom in the entire school has a window to the world outside.
Toward the end of the day, Kozol remarks to a teacher about the overcrowding and the poor condition of the building. She sums up her thoughts: “I had an awful room last year. In the winter, it was 56 degrees. In the summer, it was up 90.”
“Do the children ever comment on the building?” Kozol asks, “They don’t say,” she reponds, “but they know. All these kids see TV. They what suburban schools are like. Then they look around at their school. They don’t comment on it, but you see it in their eyes. They understand.”
Several months later, Kozol visits PS 24, in the affluent Riverdale section of New York City. This school is set back from the road, beyond a lawn planted with magnolia and dogwood trees, which are now in full bloom. On one side of the building is a playground for the youngest children; behind the school are playing fields for older kids. Many people pay the high price of a house in Riverdale because the local schools have such an excellent reputation. There are 825 children here; most are white and a few are Asian, Hispanic, or African American. The building is in good repair. It has a large library and even planetarium. All the classrooms have windows with bright curtains.
Entering one of the many classes for gifted students, Kozol asks the children, what they are doing today. A young girl answers confidently. “my name is Laurie, and we’re doing problem solving.” A tall, good-natured boy continues, “I’m David. One thing that we do is logical thinking. Some problems, we find, have more than one good answer.” Kozol asks if such reasoning is innate or if it is something a child learns. Susan, whose smile reveals her braces, responds, “You know some things to start with when you enter school. But we learn some things that other children don’t. We learn certain things that other children don’t know because we’re taught them.”
1. Using this passage discuss social inequality in education. Provide specific examples from the passage and use sociological concepts (do not use theory as these are not sociological concepts); make sure to bold the sociological terminology.
2. Choose one of the following theories-Functionalism, Conflict Theory, and Symbolic Interactionism; to analyze passage. How does your chosen theory view inequality in education?
3. Using your sociological imagination, Why do you think there is little public concern about schooling inequality?
Adapted from Macionis, John. 2012. “Thinking About Diversity Race, Class, and Gender. Schooling in the United States: Savage Inequality (adapted from Kozol (1992:85-88, 92-96) Pp. 473 in Sociology 14th ed. Boston, MA: Pearson
4. Thinking on macro-level what changes would our society have to make to eliminate schooling inequality?
