First Literature Circle Presentation

Today, our first literature group presented Savage Inequalities by Jonathon Kozol. I was very impressed by their presentation and the research they used to support the book’s main idea. Unlike most presentations that I’ve seen throughout my educational career, this group included the class and made their lesson interesting and fun. I think it was helpful that the students used schools in Illinois as examples. It made the issue hit a little closer to home. Through using the school report cards, as well as other statistics involving district budgets, ACT scores, and drop out rates, they were able to support Kozol’s thesis that low income schools lack the resources to provide an adequate education for its students. It was very depressing to hear about schools that used the majority of their budget to repair the building rather than on newer teaching resources and the lack of opportunity that these students have. What was most motivating about the presentation was the report card for the magnet school in Chicago. The district in which this school was located didn’t have a large budget and it had a good amount of minority students enrolled (I believe over half). Although I’m sure this school isn’t in as great a need for more funding like East St. Louis High School, these results show that there is some hope for underfunded schools. I think that it would be a very good experience for our class to visit one of these schools and observe how the school day is different from our experiences in high school. I hope that I’ll have the opportunity to do so sometime before I become a teacher. I was very impressed with the amount of time and effort that this group spent in order to present the ideas of this book. It sparked my interest in how money affects education, and I hope to read it sometime (most likely after the semester ends).