“Savage Inequalities”
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Wolran Kim
July, 2012



Modern society is the place where two different groups—people who have and people who do not have—coexist, as is the logic of capitalism from Marx. Discussing the gap between the rich and poor is the same as the question about why two people are not at the same height in a capitalist society. The objection in the place where rank is mainly determined depends on capacity—capital, education, parentage, race, etc. It is just the voice of the disadvantaged. A man is golfing in a private course while another man is sleeping on the street. A woman is purchasing a $2,000 fine article in a department store, while another woman is buying a $5 used item in a second-hand store. These familiar differences are accepted to the next generation in a field of education.

One student is sitting in a grimy classroom without teaching materials, while another student is sitting in a spectacular building with a specially selected teacher. Two distinctly different schools shown in Savage Inequalities by Kozol appear as the extreme gap between schools of the rich and poor.

It is Another World. East St. Louis High School is located in a place named the most distressed, small city in America. Most of the population lives on welfare and consists of 98 percent blacks. Children talk about rape and murder as they do fairytales, and the neighborhood is flooded by the sewers. They often see pregnant girls and no educational materials in the classrooms. One student said that the dream is just perfunctory, “We have a school in East St. Louis named for Dr. King. The school is full of sewer water and the doors are locked with chains. Every student in that school is black. It’s like a terrible joke on history. (Kozol)”

A New England prep school in Rye, NY has a totally different story. They boast of an enormous capital with private charitable funds and a colorful educational environment. Most of the students are white and some are Asian, with only 1 or 2 percent black. 92 percent of students are enrolled in AP classes, and the maximum teacher salary will soon reach $70,000. Students who are trained and groomed in a wealthy environment said, “You can take them out of the environment, but you can’t take the environment out of them.” The students know the term “separate but equal,” and said, “Keep them where they are but make it equal. (Kozol)”

Kozol explained the education gap with three positions: the fiscal inequalities, racial integration, and moral reason. Equity is basically a goal in the field of education, but it will probably make no major difference. School is just a part of education, but still it is the biggest part. Individuals’ intelligence is difficult to define or measure precisely. Those who write the rules of the game are the ones who are and have been winning the game (Giddens, Duneier and Appelbaum). He used race and class to illustrate the inequalities between two extremely different schools. These two schools are no different than the white and black communities before the era of emancipation. The law of racism is gone, but it still exists in two worlds which are divided by the rich and poor. A social stratum is inherited through the gap in educational environments.

Social exclusion refers to new sources of inequality which are the ways in which individuals may be cut off from involvement in the wider society (Giddens, Duneier and Appelbaum). East St. Louis, which is called America’s Soweto, is mortgaged into the next century but has the highest property-tax rate in the state. The sewage has flooded all over the city, and the city’s vacuum truck cannot be used because it needs $5,000 in repairs. This city, which is 98 percent black, is segregated residentially. They have no obstetric services, no regular trash collection, and few jobs. Also they live in a dependency culture according to Murray because 75 percent of its population lives on welfare of some form rather than entering the labor market.

This city lives in a culture of poverty according to Oscar Lewis, because poverty is the outcome of a larger social and cultural atmosphere. Their values, beliefs, lifestyles, habits, and traditions are common to people living in poverty. The educational gap originated as a capital gap and also from a lack of motivation and personal failure. It is connected in a domino effect and a natural consequence of intervals of rich and poor.

The majority of the students of East St. Louis do not go to college or even graduate high school, and this is caused from both structural forces within society and agency. They are black and low class. Black poverty is a part of a cultural heritage from the slavery era, and the lack of motivation or personal failure also digs deeper and becomes common sense. But could the East St. Louis students get the same results as the Rye, NY students if they provided the same educational environment? I think that we’d be able to predict better results overall, however it also depends on the capabilities of the individuals.

Former President Clinton was worried about the education of his daughter Chelsea when he took office in 1993, because he solemnly swore to be an educational president. His daughter went to Sidwell Friends private school which is composited with the descendants of people with financial power with the reason of them having heavy security. How could he send his daughter to a public school in Washington, DC? The majority of public schools in Washington, DC are in bad shape with 2% of the population being white, 70% are drop-outs, 75% of the black male students have a criminal record, and 14% of the girls are pregnant.

Most American private schools are excellent, and well-established children generally achieve good academic results in a rich environment. Private school students make up only 10 percent of all school-age children, but they account for 40 percent of the entire Ivy League college. They monopolize high class jobs and keep their positions with knowledge and connections in school and inherited wealth. This is the power of the United States, and these handfuls of elite students with a private education create future leaders.

Public schools started from egalitarianism, which is a basic belief of the United States. But the principle of equality in public education is misguided and disregards the individual differences. Providing equal opportunities is not the same as getting equal results. Even just admitting to all these complex and diverse aspects of the education system, it is a fact that all marginalized groups are left behind due to the gap between the rich and poor.

I went to a public women’s high school in a small city in Korea from 1980 to 1982. The number of students in common public schools in those days were 50 to 60 students, but these days, have dropped down to around 30 students due to a lower birth rate. I received a memorization-oriented education without consideration of personal differences and aptitudes in a large class. Our only goal was to go to a prestigious college, and we used to study until 10pm at night school.

Korea is one of the highest enthusiasts of education in the world because they have no natural resources. One report said that the college enrollment rate is 88% (59% to a 4-year school and 29% to a 2-year school). Social issues have been continuously raised from exam-oriented educations for university entrance. Those problems have been deepened. I frequently see the news article about student commit suicide from disappointment of grades. There are a lot of geese fathers (a nickname for fathers who live alone in Korea after his family leaves) because many upper and even middle class mothers leave to the United States, Canada, and the Philippines with their children for education.

They never hesitate to destroy their homes for the future of their children. One statistical report said that the cost of a private education is 49% of the total expenditure of a home, and the gap of private education between income levels is greater than ten times. Education is carried away by money. They over pay for English-preschool and often falsify addresses for prestigious schools. Korean mothers’ efforts to improve the academic achievements of their children are beyond imagination.

Inequality of education has worsened due to the gap between poverty and wealth. So they repeat trials and errors through institutional changes in public education or the introduction of the American education system to prevent enthusiasm over private education.

Education is the most important tool and system to maintain and develop social institutions. Mass education was introduced as industrialization spread, and schools provided an appropriately socialized and educated workforce. Historically, education has been seen as a primary means for promoting equality, but this is often not the case. In fact, our current system of education largely reproduces inequality (Giddens, Duneier and Appelbaum). Inequality in the field of education is a natural consequence, such as the difference in the types of cars or menus of every day meals between the rich and the poor in a capitalist society. The upper levels of the stratification system get the best education and are therefore in the best situation to do well and stay at the top.

Education is the only way to go beyond the social stratification in the given conditions. However the barriers of class do not change easily, because the upper class knows exactly how to keep their positions and the lower class does not. Even if they know, those realistic conditions are only obstacles rather than tools. Capitalism makes a person. I write poetry, and I realized that the money writes and the money reads in a short time. Companies who publish books, newspapers, and magazines preferentially load writings which are written by donators.

The last generosity of the upper class people is “Missing ones, please succeed if suffering from unfairness.” I agree with the comment of a Rye student, “We need to change a lot more than the schools.” If there is any community or city in a harsh environment, the government should assist at least for the school basically. And it is also an important part of the Noblesse Oblige in a capitalist society. No one can relieve the poverty of others; however we need institutional devices that can rescue schools in poverty if we consider the importance of education and the gap of Capitalism. Poor schools need the support of educational resources such as food stamps for basic social distribution.