“Still Separate. Still Unequal” . written by Jonathan Kozol. describes the world of urban public schools and the isolation and segregation the pupils there face today. Jonathan Kozol illustrates the inexorable world of the inequality that African American and Hispanic kids face within todays public instruction system. In this essay. Kozol shows the reader. with dismaying statistics and per centums. merely how unintegrated Americas urban schools have become.
He besides brings visible radiation to the fact that suburban schools. with preponderantly white pupils. are given far better support and a much higher quality instruction. than the poorness afflicted schools of the urban vicinities. Jonathan Kozol brings our attending to the obvious turning tendency of racial segregation within America’s urban and interior metropolis schools. He creates logical support by supplying scaring statistics to his claims stemming from his research and observations of different school environments.
He besides provides emotional support by sharing the narratives and experiences of the instructors and pupils. every bit good as keeping strong credibleness with his enlightening tone throughout the full essay. Within this essay. there are many utilizations of rhetorical entreaties including Son. poignancy. and ethos. Jonathan Kozol uses concluding. or logos. to turn out that the instruction systems of today are still as separated and unequal for pupils based on the colour of their tegument or their race. as they were 50 old ages ago.
An illustration of this is when Kozol informs us of the exact per centums of pupils by race in schools across the state. “In Chicago 87 % of public-school registration was black or Latino ; less than 10 % was white. In Washington D. C. . 94 % black or Latino ; to less than 5 % white. In New York City. about three quarters of the pupils were black or Latino. ” ( Kozol 202 ) Using statistics and facts truly do this issue apparent. and demo us merely how existent this job in America is.
Another illustration of this is when he informs us that. “Schools in which every bit few as 3 or 4 per centum of the pupils may be white or Southeasterly Asiatic or of Middle Eastern beginning are referred to as ‘diverse’ . ” ( Kozol 204 ) In this usage of Son. Kozol uses facts to assist us understand the sad world of what society accepts as being diverse. and to demo us that there is still segregation within the school system today. Pathos is used in order to associate the essay with the reader’s emotions and ethos is used to demo the authors unwritten character.
For illustration. poignancy is used when Kozol speaks to a pupil of a Bronx high school. “Think of it this manner. ” said a sixteen-year-old miss. “If people in New York woke up one twenty-four hours and learned that we were gone…how would they experience? … I think they’d be relieved. ” ( Kozol 205 ) This portion of the essay truly made me experience sad for this miss who lives in a society where she has grown up experiencing like now one attentions about her or others of her race.
Kozol besides shows us letters he has received from immature simple school kids seeking to understand why they do non hold the same luxuries other kids in wealthier school territories have. and why they do non hold basic demands such as toilet articless. Pathos is used within this essay to convey the sorrow of these students’ state of affairss. For illustration. when he speaks of a missive written by an eight twelvemonth old miss named Elizabeth. “It is non just that other childs have a garden and new things. But we don’t have that. ( Kozol 206 )
There is a deep sum of unhappiness from the tone of this small girl’s missive. which me feel empathy for this kid. making the impulse of desiring to rectify the job of inequality. In add-on to pathos. Kozol uses ethos when he speaks of a new attack to learning that is merely being used in urban and poverty stricken schools. It is called the Skinnerian attack. “which are normally employed in penal establishments and drug-rehabilitations” ( Kozol 209 ) . He defines this attack as “proponents of written rote-and-drill curricula” ( Kozol 209 ) .
He besides describes it as “a manner of changing the attitudes and larning manners of black and Latino children” ( Kozol 209 ) . Kozol gives credibleness and enlightens his readers on these new instruction patterns that are endangering a whole coevals of Americans. and shows us that this is go oning in our ain state. and right before our really eyes. Both poignancy and ethos are used when Kozol speaks to a principal of a South Bronx school while they were looking at a collapsed subdivision of the ceiling. which was covered by a refuse bag. “This…would non go on to white kids. ( Kozol 2 )
This usage of poignancy truly affected me as a reader. and gave me a strong impulse to desire to assist the school system. particularly since I have a immature girl that will be get downing school in a few old ages. and his usage of ethos truly makes me believe what he is stating. because of his credibleness and tone. Some other rhetorical techniques Kozol utilizations are repeat. tone and imagination. Repeat is used in this essay when he speaks of the conversation that happened between two high school pupils s they are speaking about the different types of categories they are “required” to take. “You’re ghetto…so we send you to the factory” and “You’re ghetto so you sew! ” ( Kozol 216 ) Kozol does this on order to demo us how the school course of study doesn’t allow the pupils the chance reach their full potency. Kozol uses logos to demo us that the pupils that come from urban metropolis schools are non given the same chances as wealthier schools. alternatively they are forced to take categories that will non give them the accomplishments they need for a calling that will offer them more than merely minimal pay.
Imagery and poignancy is used to depict the unfathomable conditions of the school edifices. and deficiency of basic demands. when Kozol describes a South Bronx school. “I had made repeated visits to a high school where a watercourse of H2O flowed down one of the chief stairwells on a showery afternoon and where green fungus casts were turning in the office where the pupils went for guidance. ( Kozol 207 ) By supplying these types of inside informations. Kozol truly puts us into the places of the immature kids. and he paints a graphic image of the atrocious conditions these kids endure every twenty-four hours. This essay had a really strong consequence on me personally and emotionally. Shouldn’t we be directing our kids to diverse schools to learn them how the existent universe really is? The universe is diverse with multiple races and backgrounds. Don’t all kids deserve the same educational chances. and shouldn’t every kid have a nice topographic point to travel to school?
When looking at the statement that Kozol makes. he shows us that the accomplishment spread between preponderantly white and minority schools is widening. and after reading the statistics and the information that he presents in this essay. I can’t aid but agree. His points above. that I have stated. turn out that great bounds are set for the success of minority pupils. It is no admiration why the dropout rate for these pupils is so high.
