e water and the soil. Kozol then describes the more affluent schools and the wonderful opportunities they are given. He contrasts the poor and rich schools to show the reader just how terrible these conditions are. He attempts to make the reader angry and succeeds many times.One other way by which he attempts to irritate the reader is to bring up another very sensitive issue: racism. Kozol states throughout the book, but specifically in chapter three, that there is this idea that poor children (typically black and Hispanic) are poor investments. The statistics he gives in the book are very startling, stating how in one school the classrooms are racially segregated. In one classroom there are all white students, maybe one or two black or Asian children. In another classroom, the special class, all the children are black, with maybe one white child. Kozol does not understand how one could look at this situation and deny that this is racism. Kozol says that, according to a study done by the State Commissioner of Education, as many as three out of four blacks fail to complete high school within the traditional four-year periods (112). The dropout rates that Kozol presents to the reader are unimaginable and very heartbreaking. Other distressing issues Kozol argues are those of magnet schools and the business approach to education, which he discusses in chapter two. In Kozols opinion, magnet schools do nothing but separate the children more. He says that the poorer children are not really given a chance to apply for these selective schools. Even if the information is given to the parents, many times they are not properly educated to do anything about fulfilling the necessary requirements to get their children into the special schools. He also disagrees with the business approach to education, stating that one cannot set limits on a child because the child will never strive to go beyond that limit or expectation. He claims that...
