The Ecology Model of Inequality in Schools

Jonathan Kozol's searing book of 1991, Savage Inequalities: Children in America's Schools, exposed disturbing differences in the education of the wealthy and the education of the poor. His book was written as a result of visits in numerous schools nationwide, schools in approximately 30 neighborhoods from Illinois to Washington, D.C., and from New York to San Antonio. He met with children in their homes and spoke with teachers, principals, and ministers about the schools in each area. The result is a startling expose of persistent patterns of racial segregation and educational inequality.

A few years before, Urie Bronfenbrenner of Cornell University published an article which presented new ways of thinking about children and the factors in their existence. His work, "Ecology of the Family as a Context for Human Development: Research Perspectives," includes thought-provoking concepts of the many influences on the quality of life for the inner city child, a product of what he calls external environments (Bronfenbrenner, 1986, p. 723). It is the purpose of this paper to explore the Kozol work in terms of the Bronfenbrenner ecological concepts, including examples from both works and theories of other researchers.

Kozol cites example after example of situations in which the St. Louis Public School system scorns the East St. Louis poor, black children. He speaks of the Cincinnati and San Antonio Public School systems and notes t

. . .
t they are doomed in their situation because of race and class. They know that in the eyes of society they are not much at all (Kozol, 1991, p. 81). Glen H. Elder, Jr., found that parental employment and attitudes about work had a very great influence on attitudes assumed by the children. In one small town, the only employer, a flax mill closed down, displacing all the adult workers in the town. During the ensuing time period, the investigator recorded a shift toward apathy, lower expectation and activity, and loss of temporal structure in daily life. To a remarkable degree, many of the children and youth adopted a corresponding life pattern and mentality (Elder, 1981, p. 416). It is no surprise that the inner city school children suffer from profound feelings of loss of hope. Bronfenbrenner's second exosystem, the parents' social network greatly suffers in city living. Many parents are isolated and struggling themselves, trying to cope with the environmental stresses of urban life. Many low income children are suffering from neglect because their parents are too young, trying to function as a single parent, and experiencing difficulties with alienation or substance addiction (Bronfenbrenner, 1986, p. 730). In his article
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Approximate Word count = 1569
Approximate Pages = 6 (250 words per page)

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