Integrated Critique of Richard Dawkins Selfish Gene and Kozol's Savage Essay

Integrated Critique of Richard Dawkins Selfish Gene and Kozol's Savage Inequlites - Essay Example These perceptions are the reason why a lot of people are dying to go to America; to fulfill their American Dream, as it is commonly known. What they don't know that behind this beautiful image of freedom, peace and equality lays a system that is so cruel and selfish that one would reel at just the thought of it. There are many books that are written in the pursuit of enlightening the readers about the negative side behind America's systems. These books are written not to dampen the spirits of the Americans and the aspiring immigrants of America but to show them the picture that America is not a perfect country it may be a haven for some, but there are also some people who may find it otherwise. The book "Savage Inequalities' by Jonathan Kozol is one of the widely read book that talks about the not-so-good-system of America. This paper is aimed at analyzing the contents of the said book, and thereby evaluating the probable cause and effect of this book to its readers. Also, this paper aims to find out whether Kozol's book is able to make an objective point of view regarding America's unfair system. In Jonathan Kozol's book, "Savage Inequalities", Kozol has described the real happenings in the American Public School System. Conducting visits and research in America's public elementary and high schools, Kozol made a shocking discovery: that despite the new age and laws in America about equality in social class and race, discrimination is still happening and it is taking place in the public elementary and high schools; the place where children go to and learn about these stuff. What is more shocking is that it is done blatantly and no one is taking a stand against it. What more, people who can make changes about these things are even choosing not to address the problem and even voting against doing something about it (Kozol, 1991). It is a vicious cycle, really. Children who are educated in public schools that are inferior in quality, both in facilities and in the academic area, would grow up to occupy the lowest strata in the work force . Since they are used to poor conditions, they would be contented to live with the small wages and poor benefits they would be getting from such jobs. They would marry and their children will once again go to such public school. In turn, children of the rich and the middle class go to good public schools - schools that are complete in facilities and have a good faculty and system. These children would be given good education so that when they graduate they will get jobs that are high paying and white collar. And when it is their turn to raise a family, their children will go to the same good public school their parents went to. So you see, the school serves as a capitalist system that requires the reproduction of the division of labor (Bowles, 1972)). The rich and middle class, knowing that these work at their advantage, see no point in improving the system. In fact, they even create policies to maintain their place in the social strata. Inequality in social status is not the only thing that Kozol has discovered in his rounds in these public schools. He has also found out those public schools that house children of color are more inferior in quality. A good example of such school is the public school in East St. Louis. East St. Louis is populated