Still Separate, Still Unequal
“Still Separate, Still Unequal”, written by Jonathan Kozol, describes the reality of urban public schools and the isolation and segregation the students there face today. Jonathan Kozol illustrates the grim reality of the inequality that African American and Hispanic children face within todays public education system. In this essay, Kozol shows the reader, with alarming statistics and percentages, just how segregated Americas urban schools have become. He also brings light to the fact that suburban schools, with predominantly white students, are given far better funding and a much higher quality education, than the poverty stricken schools of the urban neighborhoods.
Jonathan Kozol brings our attention to
It is called the Skinnerian approach, “which are commonly employed in penal institutions and drug-rehabilitations” (Kozol 209). He defines this approach as “proponents of scripted rote-and-drill curricula” (Kozol 209). He also describes it as “a way of altering the attitudes and learning styles of black and Hispanic children” (Kozol 209). Kozol gives credibility and enlightens his readers on these new teaching practices that are threatening a whole generation of Americans, and shows us that this is happening in our own country, and right before our very eyes. Both pathos and ethos are used when Kozol speaks to a principal of a South Bronx school while they were looking at a collapsed section of the ceiling, which was covered by a garbage bag, “This…would not happen to white children.” (Kozol 2) This use of pathos really affected me as a reader, and gave me a strong urge to want to help the school system, especially since I have a young daughter that will be starting school in a few years, and his use of ethos really makes me believe what he is saying, because of his credibility and tone.
Some other rhetorical techniques Kozol uses are repetition, tone and imagery. Repetition is used in this essay when he speaks of the conversation that happened between two high school students as they are talking about the different types of classes they are “required”