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This test consists of 5 short answer questions, 10 short essay questions, and 1 (of 3) essay topics.

Short Answer Questions

1. Where did Kozol hold his classes while teaching in the urban school in Boston?

2. How did Kozol choose the cities that he visited?

3. The history of East St. Louis shows that African Americans were lured to the city for what reason?

4. According to Carla Hawkins, Chicago's public schools are in short supply of what type of resource?

5. Which two poets did Kozol expose the children in the urban district to?

Short Essay Questions

1. What is there for residents to do in East St. Louis for fun?

2. Why is employment limited in East St. Louis?

3. How does Kozol describe East St. Louis?

4. How does Coral Hawkins stand out from most of the teachers Kozol meets at Mary McLeod Bethune School?

5. Why does Kozol condemn business leaders and legislators for not improving public education?

6. Why does Kozol say he wrote the book Savage Inequalities?

7. Why are the major industries that dump waste into East St. Louis not taxed there?

8. Compare Baldwin's experience teaching in the urban school district in Boston and the suburban school district west of Boston.

9. Compare the two court decisions, Brown v. Board of Education and Plessy v. Ferguson.

10. Why, in most cities, do the influential people that Kozol meets show little inclination to address the segregation in the pubic school system?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

The book Savage Inequalities depicts the inequalities that exist in the nation's public schools. What two problems seem to be common among the school systems that Kozol describes in the book? Describe these two problems and why they are considered problems. What suggestions would you make to improve these problems? Please use specific examples from the book.

Essay Topic 2

In the book's forward entitled, Looking Backward: 1964-1991, Kozol describes his teaching experience as an innovative teacher at an urban Boston public school. In later chapters, Kozol describes how other teachers try to be innovative despite their lack of resources. Give three detailed examples from the book Savage Inequalities of how teachers in the urban school districts Kozol visits are innovative with limited resources. How are these teachers innovative? Where do they find the resources to continue to be innovative? Please use specific examples from the book.

Essay Topic 3

Kozol has his class read Langston Hughes poem, A Dream Deferred. Based on Kozol's interviews, how does this poem apply to the lives of the children Kozol visits in the urban public school systems? Why would their dreams be deferred? What happens to those students whose dreams are deferred? Please use specific examples from the book.

(see the answer keys)

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