Kozol and Goldberg

Premises:

-Enemies
-Whites Vs. Blacks
-STDs
-Religion
-Rich vs. Poor
-Education
-Poverty
-Every day life
-living facilities
-Family
-Friends
-Death
-Sickness
-Drug abuse
-Sex
-Jobs
-Opportunities

Argument:

Depending on the amount of money you make, determines how you are treated in society. Kozol thinks that the amount of poverty in our society and the amount of racism that goes on is affecting the learning abilities of the children. America does not want to face the facts and is blinded by what they have in front of them and do not consider what their neighbors might be living through. They are simply only concerned about themselves.

Evidence:

"You see alot of prostitues down there as well. Furthur down. By the express way... Then we get illegal dumpers. People who dont live here come and dump thing they dont want: broken televisions, boxes of bottles, old refrigerators, beat up cars, old pieced of metal, other lovely things. They do in the wee hours of the morning."... "I've got quite a few nice things that way. Not long ago, somebody dumped a pile of chairs and tables in the street. Brand-new. I was offended but i was also blessed. I took the two chairs." (11)

"I believe that what the rich have done to the poor people in this city is something that a preacher could call evil. Somebody has power. Pretending that they dont so they dont need to use it to help people- thats my idea of evil." (23)

"I am in hell and you are not and so i hate you and i have to try to bring you down to where i am. I feel pity for them and fear becuase theyre lost."...."My teacher says we came here in chains and now we buy our own chains and we put them on ourselves" (24)

Comments:

Its sad to know that the poverty is so high in some places. For people to just dump their trash in someone elses home, is not right. But hey, one mans trash is another treasure.. haha.. Anyways, the idea of children having to also live in these conditions and view the world as such a horrible place is not the way the world should be viewed. This makes it difficult for them to have a "normal life and education". I was also shocked by the enviness people have by one another always needing to be better than the other person and keeping others down is not good.