In the article of Irl Solomons history class, Solomon is a graduate of Brandels University

and wanted to pursue law school, but had concerns involving civil rights and decided to go teach

at a school where he said that he would Go and find the toughest place there is to teach. See if

/I/ like it. He lives in a senior home where he has four daughters of whom which are either

pregnant or have children. Solomon was told from his kids that because of a degree from a

school that does not have that good of a reputation, that they do not have much opportunity in

the United States. Even a high school diploma, which is standard in the United States, doesnt

account for much because of how much bitterness and unfairness there is.

In the school in which Solomon teaches, even a little education is considered academic. He

gives approximations on percentages of students who are going to move on to four-year colleges

and those who would want to go to the military or further their education. The school is in

terrible shape because some classes do not have the capabilities to teach the student; no

equipment, staff who can teach the subject, or working facilities for the students. The author

asks a question to a student regarding civil rights, and their response was that they recite Martin

Luther Kings speech every February, but it is only done to just do it for the sake of the month.

The author also says that children experience hypocrisies and ironies that takes longer for grown-

ups to realize.

With Jennifer, she used to live in the Bronx, however the schools were terrible, which is

why her parents moved out of there. She reasoned that if they pay taxes for their schools to be

that terrible with what she had experienced, there is no point to keep contributing to something

that is not benefitting her. She says that ultimately, you are responsible for whether if you want

an education and you cannot have someone else want a good life for you. However, she also

said that everyone should have equal opportunity to take the same classes when available. Yet
the author asks her if it would be fair to pay more taxes to allow more classes available to

everyone to be possible and she says that she wouldnt see it working in her favor. I think her

perspective of the East St. Louis schools are that she thinks they are good, yet she wouldnt want

to pay for taxes that allow schools to be maintained the way they are.

The school in Rye, New York is a school that is seemed to resemble that of a New

England prep school. The students seem to be very happy and teachers are getting paid very

well. The school interior looks very nice, compared to the school of East St. Louis. Students are

very engaged in learning and discussion of various topics. The children seem to be against

having students from ghettos bused to their school because they believe that it wouldnt make

a difference and would make it worse for their own education. They believe that racial

integration of having black children from nonwhite suburb or the city to their school would be

met with strong resistance and they wouldnt meet certain standards or standards would be

dropped for them. Fiscal inequalities were also a topic that mattered a lot because of what the

school is available to offer is due to funding, but if it were to be damaged by those who could not

afford to go to this school, then it would hurt what the school could offer, and the towns values

of having a great school. The author also points out that these children seem to be well educated,

yet do not understand the reality of which is around them. There are kids, who are also citizens

like them, who could not afford to get a great education like those in Rye because of poor

communities or poor planning and care for schools elsewhere. The author says that even if some

of the students who do realize that, would speak awkwardly, but go back to their self. It is

almost as if they were skating on ice and the problems of the outside world are below them.

I think that it is unfortunate that there are schools, like those in East St. Louis that are so

run down, that it shouldnt even be available or at least consolidated to a different school that can
offer education with usable facilities. It would, however make education unavailable to students

in some areas because it might be too far for them to get transported from one to another. I

believe that the education system is changing because of how racially diverse schools have

become, but the availability of a lot more subjects being taught, AP classes, social clubs and

extra-curricular classes being more available. Some schools are actually getting funding that

they deserve to allow their school to be updated and kept up to shape, even if it doesnt seem like

it. I know from personal experiences that my high school that I went to was described as

ghetto or poor, yet I have gone onto some other campuses and see that theirs may look nicer,

but is not in the best kept shape either. School are also becoming more gated off as to prevent

from any violence happening from outside of the school to get in, which is great, but also

making it seem like the school is a prison. One thing that might seem terrible is that the quality

of teaching might have been declining as I noticed from my experience in college because even

if a teacher says they are qualified to teach a certain subject, it seems that it could be done better

by someone who isnt as qualified. Maybe planning and time management of some teachers

who say they have qualifications are not bettered by those who can manage that well.