Savage Inequalities

Over the past several weeks in Ms. Zimmerman’s elective, we have been learning and looking at different types of protests. In our last elective we had to read an excerpt from the book Savage Inequalities: The Savage Inequalities of Public Education in New York by Jonathon Kozol. We then had a long discussion about how the wealthier children in the nicer schools are not aware of how fortunate they are, and how it takes them sometimes until they reach high school to see the large gap between the rich and poor. Although it’s strange that on the other side of town there is a child that knew his/her life was nothing compared to the rich. They are brought up looking at children who are spoiled causing them to think about the things they don’t have in life.

We then saw parts of the movie that was filmed in Ohio; it showed how the schools are very different from one another. Some children have to walk outside just to go to the bathroom; other kids by the time they have reached high school have never used a computer, and in one school if they didn’t provide the children with free food they would go without eating (the whole day). Other schools have advanced technology, very expensive chemistry and physics labs, and nice gymnasiums with pools and good work-out programs.

By reading the article, having the discussion or watching parts of the movie, did it have a lasting affect on you? What were you thinking during all of this?
- Have you gone to Birmingham schools your whole life, in which case were you aware of the inequalities? Do you think (educational inequalities) will ever change?
- If you went to another school before coming to Groves, was it a major change for you?

Katie G.

A quote from Savage Inequalities: "Anyone who visits in the schools of East St. Louis, even for a short time, comes away profoundly shaken. These are innocent children, after all. They have done nothing wrong. They have committed no crime. They are too young to have offended us in any way at all. One searches for some way to understand why a society as rich and, frequently, as generous as ours would leave these children in their penury and squalor for so long -- and with so little public indignation. Is this just a strange mistake of history? Is it unusual? Is it an American anomaly?"

Copycat threats? What's the deal?

On Monday, there was the Virginia Tech shooting with 33 people dead. But, this past week there have been over a dozen threats to Oakland County Schools.

• Berkshire was closed on Friday due to a threat.
• Groves was on la perimeter lockdown at the end of the day (code white) on Thursday, and there was an investigation into a classroom discussion earlier in the week.
• Sunday night e-mail threat (even before the shooting) at four Rochester schools brought out the bomb sniffing dogs
• The dogs came back Wednesday night to two Walled Lake High Schools, and three more threats were issued on Thursday.
• Oxford received warnings on Tuesday at a middle school.

Why do people think it is funny to make a threat? Just so it can close school and no one has to school? What do you think about all these threats recently?

Paris

Articles: http://www.dailytribune.com/stories/042007/loc_threats001.shtml

Oakland County Prosecutor says that fake threats are no joke, will be taken and punished severely: http://www.clickondetroit.com/news/12520802/detail.html

Editor's Note - In an article in the Daily Tribune, it can cost "$200,000 to $600,000 to close an entire district and add security measures", according to Oakland Schools Superintendent Vickie Markavitch. So please, in our cash-strapped district, don't do anything stupid. And even if money wasn't an issue, if you need someone to talk to or have an issue, we can find ways to work it out. Violence isn't the answer.