Kozol begins this excerpt by describing the condition of a high school he is visiting; the high school that is said to be "the oldest high school in the Bronx" according to a plaque in the principle's office. From the description, the high school certainly lives up to Kozol's description. He speaks about how there are leaky ceilings and raggedy furniture, even in faculty offices. Many students also have an input on the schools condition. They sometimes get together to see a barrel fill with water in their counselor's office when it rains.
In the high school, Kozol also encounters a bit of racial separation. He speaks to one student who actually blames the condition of the school on the fact that many of the classrooms are filled with minority students. In the excerpt, Israel, a small Puerto Rican boy states, "If you threw all of us into some different place, some ugly land, and put white children in this building in our place, this school would start to shine. They would fix it up." It's obvious that he feels that the school believes minority students don't deserve a nice building. He feels that he should be able to enjoy the same opportunities as white students his age.
No comments:
Post a Comment