The Shame Of The Nation Analysis

The American education system is set up to provide a free and appropriate public education. In America there is a growing gap between low and high socio-economic classes, and this is extremely apparent in the American education system. Schools within just a few miles of each other could differ as much as having an un-safe learning environment to educating students with advanced curricula. Many factors lead to this inequality in the education system, however it is highly influenced by funding and high stakes testing given to these students.
One huge socio-economic inequality that is found in public education today are the facilities themselves. The schools depicted in Kozol’s The Shame of the Nation are astonishingly deprived of the most basic resources needed to provide a good education for students. Specifically, Kozol mentions the school which he taught at in Boston, Massachusetts, where he was sanctioned …show more content…
Commonly schools with high scores on standardized tests receive more money to improve their schools, while lower achieving schools are left to fend for themselves. Kozol discusses this in the difference between New York City schools in Manhattan and the Bronx. High achieving schools in Manhattan are often given supplemental funding for curriculum materials and new learning facilities, whereas lower achieving schools in the Bronx are continually given a lower amount. In a truly democratic education system, the school with the lower achievement level should be given more funding to improve the overall school and student knowledge. These high stakes tests are often used to distribute funds appropriately to teachers and schools in an unfair manner. It is obvious that schools in lower socio-economic areas would have a lower achievement level on high stakes testing if their students are ill-prepared from the