While school segregation has become one of the symbols of the racial discrimination problem in the American society, other reasons, such as the school’s success rate, or economic segregation may also be responsible for this situation. Kozol (41) for example shows that the Martin Luther King Jr. High school in an upper-middle class neighborhood in New York is frequented almost exclusively by African American and Hispanic children, despite being close to the White children’s homes. This is for him an example of how creating mixed racial schools has failed in America. Thefore, Kozol considers that there still is school segregation in America today and that this is a proof that discrimination is still a major issue in America. The author quotes the New York Times, according to which, the high school was seen as a promising effort to integrate African American, Hispanic and White children.
However parents were reluctant to send the children to this high school, despite being in walking distance from home. Thus, Kozol interprets this situation as “one of the nation’s most visible and problematic symbols of an expectation rapidly receding and legacy substantially betrayed” (42). While this may be the case, it would be worth determining whether the parents trusted the teachers at that particular high-school, and if the high school was considered a good one. Kozol mentions that it is attended by students who were not admitted to more successful schools. Therefore an alternative reason, for which parents from the upper middle class community may be reluctant, is the high school’s success rate. Moreover, the fact that the school is located in an upper middle class community means that parents may be unwilling to send their children to a school attended by lower income children, therefore constituting a case of economic segregation, rather than discrimination.
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"“Still Separate Still Unequal” Summary".
Close Reading
In “Still Separate, Still Unequal”, Kozol appeals to the emotions of the readers and uses personal address to convince them that school segregation is a result of racial discrimination. The author uses the first person address “I, for example in the remark, “the school, which I’ve visited repeatedly in recent years, is located in an upper-middle class white neighborhood” (Kozol 42). The term “repeatedly” conveys the idea that he had the occasion to see what happens in the school in several different school years, and the personal address transforms this article into a subjective one, or even, a confession. The author uses very long sentences to convey his message in this passage, such as: “…parents in the neighborhood showed great reluctance to permit their children to enroll at “Martin Luther King”, and, […] the school before long came to be a destination for black and Hispanic students who could not obtain admission into more successful schools”(Kozol 42).
The effect of this style is that it gives the impression of a stream of consciousness, which means that the author seems to make the remarks for himself, spontaneously and affectively involved in the problem. The author seems to simply convey his own thoughts on the subject. Moreover, long sentences are usual in spoken conversation and therefore, in this case, the author might try to address the audience at a personal level, from an equal standpoint. Also, the author uses visual imagery to enhance his argument throughout the text. For example, in one passage, the author writes that, “a stream of water flowed down one of the main stairwells on a rainy afternoon and where green fungus molds were growing in the office where the students went for counseling” (44).
Imagery was therefore used to convey the desolation and the economic decay of black-only schools he saw. The author described them in order to help readers to imagine them, and increase the emotional effect of his article. The end of the paragraph suggests that the author is trying to impress readers, or to appeal to their emotions, by mentioning the “legacy substantially betrayed” (42). The author tries to suggest that the situation at the school is a result of discrimination.
