In the continuously changing society of today's world, the existence of discrimination based on age, gender, race, or prosperity is a constant. Over the years the government and its courts have tried to develop laws and amendments to end these forms of discrimination. One issue of public opinion is that of the discrimination that occurs within the public school systems involving the cyclical patterns of discrimination based on wealth and race. Jonathan Kozol's book, Savage Inequalities, describes the struggle of children in unprivileged inner city schools and their battle with the public school system. The less wealthy, inner city students do not receive adequate schooling compares to that of the wealthier, suburban students due to their dependence on aid from the local governments, the segregation that results from this factor, and the lack of resources allocated to the schools.

Public schools rely on local governments for their source of money and materials. Schools receive the majority of their funds from property taxes (O'Conner 139).

The public education system scorns many of America's children and Kozol devoted his life and studies to finding out the raw facts and communicating with these unprivileged children. Many times no answers can be found and nothing can be remedied, but Kozol contributed by informing the public and making several unhappy children smile. The statistics have not changed much in the thirteen years since Kozol's research and millions of children today are still not receiving an adequate education.

Due to the fact that the money granted to the individual schools is based on property taxes, discrimination within the school system is inevitable. The lower class families that are predominantly black or Hispanic, living in near poverty are given an amount of money that is substantially less than the amount of money being allocated to the wealthier families that sometimes live less than a mile away. Therefore the underdeveloped schools consist of mainly black, Hispanic, and low income white children. Kozol's experiences in various schools defend this fact. Kozol observes that in the Mary McLeod Bethune School in North Lawndale, Chicago, a fifth grade class consists of thirty students, all of who are black (Kozol 46). At Du Sable High School in Chicago, the student population is one hundred percent black (Kozol 68). Public School 261 in New York, which conducts its classes in an old roller skating rink, is ninety percent black (Kozol 87). This is then compared to a suburban school in Chicago, New Trier High, where only 1.2 percent of the population is non-white (Kozol 66). Segregation is inevitable as long as the governments continue to use property value as their basis for funding. And until state or local governments attempt to integrate the lower and higher-class students, and try to improve the condition of the inner city schools, segregation will be prominent. Kozol later states that, "Unless we have the wealth to pay for a private education, we are compelled by law to go to public school - the public school in our district. Thus the state, by requiring attendance but refusing to require equity, effectively required inequality" (Kozol 56). This statement expresses Kozol's opinion that the state and local governments, along with the wealthier classes that avoid association with the underdeveloped, low-income cities, condemn t

Some common words found in the essay are:
Savage Inequalities, City Elementary, North Lawndale, Kozol Unless, San Antonio, Political Science, Chicago Trier, Board Education, Public School, York City, inner city, public school, inner city schools, city schools, public schools, property value, local governments, discrimination based, money allocated, black kozol, innocent children, value poor communities, public school systems, property value poor, wealthier school districts,
Approximate Word count = 1583
Approximate Pages = 6 (250 words per page double spaced)