Savage Inequalities

The third chapter uses the comparison between geographically near schools in New York City to make a point about the ideal of "competition," heralded by the defends of the status quo in education, and the corruption of this same idea, with respect to the realities of class. The crux of this idea is that "competition" exists, but not in the classroom. Instead, Kozol argues that the competition takes place in city hall, on the level of policy. The argument of this chapter is that the arrangement of policies governing education creates conditions that are unfavorable for students, largely along class and racial lines. However, the author's interest lies in the intangibles: Kozol uses the stories of the various Bronx high schools no longer just to highlight their material disparities, but to call attention to the attitudes and arguments offered to explain and justify these disparities. In the end, the argument proves how the rhetoric of competition is used to justify unfairness in that same competition.

One of the most important elements Kozol brings in to illustrate his argument is New York City's report on the vast material disparity of its schools. The report claims that there are no instances of out-and-out racial bias, but the fact remains that the disparity of opportunity exists on racial and class lines. To Kozol, the integration policy does little to affect the segregation taking place in New York City schools. One area of Kozol's attention is curricula for students with learning or developmental disorders. At comparatively affluent schools, Kozol notes that the majority of the students in these classes are Black. Though Kozol makes note in prior chapters of the high incidence of behavioral and neurological disorders among minority children, and these disorders’ links to environmental causes, he omits this hypothesis here; instead, it remains ambiguous whether Kozol believes these children ought to be in these classes or not. In any case, Kozol's claim is less successful at proving the system "writes off" children based on their race in this particular moment. This is not the only instance however, where the allocation of resources is mismatched; the "gifted" programs perpetuate the pattern of unfair competition that is the aim of this chapter. The mechanism, as Kozol describes, is more complicated, indirect, and delayed: Specifically, these gifted programs, as part of the special educational properties of these schools, attract any affluent parents from struggling, disadvantaged neighborhoods. Consequently, these neighborhoods further degrade both funding from property and the political clout to change policy in ways helpful to them. However, what underlies all of this, Kozol argues, is as much self-interest as it is racial prejudice.

The close of this chapter—a debate amongst students of an affluent high school in Rye, New York—illustrates this unique position. The students are debating the ostensible subject of Savage Inequalities: the crisis of inequality in education, with particular attention to segregation. As expected, none of the students are in favor of segregation, nor opposed to integration, but many question its value to their own education—how it benefits them. As Kozol notes, the students readily accept the idea that students of different races shouldn't be barred from attending their schools. However, these same students have also internalized the false idea that their inclusion would degrade the value of their own education, and that it would hurt their ability to compete. This illustrates an interesting turn in this debate, one which will emerge in later sections of Savage Inequalities—that the rhetoric of "competition" engenders indifference toward real fairness. As the remaining chapters demonstrate, even this indifference has real consequences for the most vulnerable in our society.