The main theme that is emphasized in the essay entitled ?Savage Inequalities? is the American ideology of life; that every individual gets an equal opportunity in life. Although this ideology may hold true to some people, there is also a larger group of people attending urban schools who do not get the same treatment and quality of education as their suburban counterparts. The author, Jonathan Kozol, did his study on the educational environment of the schools of New York City. He argues

that ?white schools? get more funding than do the schools that consist of predominately black populations. There are number of school districts in NYC, but Kozol narrowed his research down to district 10 (the Bronx) in particular, because of the two extremes that are located within. At one end of the extremes is public school 24. This school is located in Riverdale, which is a fairly wealthy community and is populated predominately by whites. At the other end are public schools 79 and 261 located south of Riverdale. Its population consists mostly of minorities that live in relatively low-income households. At schools 79 and 261, the author talks about both schools inadequacies. Both schools are extremely overcrowded; ironically, they are also predominately black minority schools. The average class is way above 30 pupils per room. It is so ludicrous, that teachers are forced to hold class in the library, and that administrators have meetings in the nurse?s office at times when she is not working. This overcrowding problem severely affects the ability of the students to learn anything because teachers cannot give much personalized attention to any one student. Whereas at Riverdale, classes reach 23 students a class and they even have classrooms for the ?gifted? students to study. The populations of the two minority schools are around 1500 while the Riverdale is approximately 900. However, Riverdale, which is split into two schools receives much more funding than both of the low-income schools do. Towards the end of the essay the author implies that school boards, whether racially motivated or not, think it?s a waste of time and money to equally fund poor minority schools because it is impossible to make the schools any better. Lastly, he states that the minority children understand the negative label that has been associated with them. As a consequence, the children will ?act the part? by living lives of crime or lives that do not amount to much. The author did a thorough job going to the three schools and comparing the differences between them. The one problem with these comparisons is that they are two extremes; many middle-income schools have the same problems that low-income schools have just not to the same degree. His opinion is too rigid for only observing three schools. He should examine more schools to get a better comparison.

These essays explore the theories and possibilities behind how the minorities are manipulated, capitalized, and violently treated by the government and the upper economic classes in the United States. The stigma that is placed on them does not allow the blacks to elevate themselves to a higher notch on the social hierarchy. The conduct of these ?stigmatized? people that concerns the more fortunate classes for example mugging, are committed because the poor are so destitute. If the funding policies are changed, the conduct will be reduced and the stigma could be possibly removed

Some common words found in the essay are:
African Americans, Herbert Gans, NYC Kozol, Whereas Riverdale, York City, Undeserving Poor, , Inequalities American, Jonathan Kozol, racially motivated, undeserving poor, Functions Undeserving, positive functions undeserving, functions undeserving, motivated violence, minority schools, racially motivated violence, york city, functions undeserving poor, positive functions, predominately black, anatomy racially motivated, schools 79 261, low-income schools, affirmative action,
Approximate Word count = 1990
Approximate Pages = 8 (250 words per page double spaced)