Amy Worthington
Professor Young
English 1100
10/19/16

Still Separate, Still Unequal America's Educational Apartheid

1)  “Children who have been in programs like those offered by the ‘Baby Ivies’ since the age of two have, by now, received the benefits of six or seven years of education, nearly twice as many as the children who have been denied these opportunities; yet all are required to take, and will be measured by, the same examinations. Which of these children will receive the highest score? (Kozol 46).”

Children who received more education were from Upper Class families and not lower class families. This is because in order to receive more education parents had to pay large sums of money and parents in the lower class could probably not afford to do this for their children. With more education comes more opportunities, like college for example. College and more education will lead a student in an Upper Class family to be more successful then children in a lower class family would be.

2) “Affluent parents pay surprisingly large sums of money to enroll their youngsters, beginning at the age of two or three, in extraordinary early-education programs that give them social competence and rudimentary pedagogic skills unknown to children of the same age in the cities poorer neighborhoods (Kozol 46).”

These early education programs benefit the children because they are already ahead in their education compared to students in surrounding areas. The children at lower and middle class schools are taught to follow the rules given and to not veer away form them even if they disagree. They are like robots where the teacher is there master and they do exactly as he/she says. The students are not learning any skills in communication or critical thinking, that will benefit them in the future when they are applying to colleges or jobs. 

3)“I don’t want to take hairdressing. I did not need sewing either. I knew how to sew. My mother is a seamstress in a factory. I’m trying to go to college. I don’t need to sew to go to college. My mother sews. I hoped for something else (Kozol 52).”

 

This quote demonstrates how hard it is for someone to get out of their social class because they are not given the opportunity to do so. Schools don't prepare students to become more successful. This puts students at a disadvantage when they are applying to colleges. 

4) “There are expensive children and cheap children (Kozol 45).”

The expensive children most likely came from parents who were part of the upper class while the cheap children most likely came from parents who were part of the lower or middle class. I think that the schools in cities need to change the way they are teaching the children in order to better prepare them for college. This will allow children to break free from the social norm and prove that a person born into the lower class can work their way up to the higher class.