Fremont High School
“Jonathan Kozol”
Jennifer R
After reading Jonathan Kozol’s essay on Fremont High School in Los Angeles, I had to stop and rethink every detail I had just read describing the schools appearance, education offered and the overall sanitation of the school. I simply did not realize the school systems in the United States today were in such horrible conditions. While describing the school itself I learned it consist of roughly 5,000 students. The perimeter is protected by an eight foot steel fence topped by spikes. This sounds more like a prison than a high school. According to the essay the teachers stated some of the classrooms took place in converted storage closets that were windowless and nasty. Teachers stated, “ the line for kids to get their food is very long and the entire period last only 30 minutes. It takes them 15 just to walk from their classes and get through the line. They probably get 10 minutes to eat their meal.” According to the teachers most average students in ninth grade are reading at a fourth grade level. This tells you they are lacking education and their chance of a decent career is slim. The school had 15 fewer bathrooms than the law required and only one or two “working.” Not to mention they were always unclean and lacking supplies. I could not believe children were treated like this in a school system. It is so unfair. I could not believe that this school was still running and these children didn’t get the things they deserve to learn. Every child deserves the right to an education. It shouldn’t matter if the side of town is not as rich as other areas. (Pg. 708) “Rats in eleven classrooms” this was maintenance reports. “Rat droppings” are recorded “in the bins and drawers.” This would make you want to drop out of school if you had to endure these horrible conditions.
At the end of the essay when a child by the name of Mireya asked, “ Why is it, that students who do not need what we need get so much more? And we who need it so much more get so much less?” I would have answered the same as Kozol, there is no answer. It shouldn’t be allowed. Every child deserves a better education than what these are offered and to stay strong and strive to get out and into college to further her education. I would have told her to always think of her future that she deserved a college degree after getting through high school. If you strive and try you will make it, prove them wrong and make your family proud!
You May Also Find These Documents Helpful
-
Answer: Human suffering was the most devastating impact of the Great Depression. This economic catastrophe affected the poor and the wealthy. Following the stock market crash in 1929, stockholders lost billions of dollars. Throughout the next decade thousands of banks began to fail for several reasons. This caused everyone with savings in these banks to lose their money due to their deposits being uninsured. This left millions with little to no money. Without money to spend there was a reduction of items being purchased nationwide, this led to a decrease in mass production, which ended in a reduction of workforce. In the end unemployment rates rose exceedingly.…
- 776 Words
- 3 Pages
Good Essays -
For my entire life of schooling, both my parents and I would agree that I constantly complained about the educational systems in which I was enrolled. But when I actually take the time to think about everything I have been through, I realize that I have indeed had an excellent education. My schooling was full of opportunities and experiences, all of which contributed to the person I am today; adequate education has been an indispensable facet of my being. Sadly, not everyone has had this same privilege. And now as a college student, I am becoming even more aware of this sad fact. Looking around me in such a diverse city as Chicago, I find myself being more and more grateful. When I read Jonathan Kozol's Fremont High School, this these feelings were even more reassured.…
- 610 Words
- 3 Pages
Good Essays -
Could whites and Indians have lived peaceably in the trans-Mississippi West? I do not think that the whites and Indians could have lived peacefully in the trans-Mississippi West. I believe this is because of the ways the Indians were living and hunting. Also with how the whites were not concerned with their customs and only had a one track mind on what they wanted of their land. The government “attempted” to keep peace by pressuring the Indians into treaties that were only broken and then new ones would be made. The government was not looking out for the tribes best interest either because they forced more restrictive agreements on the Indians which led to a war in the west between the whites and Indians. Looking back on the history, I think it was going to be the inevitable outcome of the situation. Even when some of the tribes would hold the American flag up to show friendship and white ones for truce, they were massacred and scalped of all types such as mothers, children and even babies by the whites. However the liquor and disease killed more Indians than combat did. Indian hunters themselves nearly wiped the plains clean by 1883 which weakened Indian resistance from working for commercial companies. Mines, crops and grazing herds and fences disturbed hunting and farming lands of many traditional tribes. Another treaty of 1868 was made but broken by Custer who was later killed by the Indians and nearly 250 soldiers in the summer of 1876. Congress adopted the Dawes Severalty Act in 1887 to end reservation goals but to have Indians join whites as farmers and small property owners of their land into the marketplace. That didn’t help though because Indians didn’t want to give up their tribal ways and also had no experience farming, managing money and other white ways. By 1890, the Indians had to adapt to life within the boundaries set by white culture despite their efforts at resistance. So the way I see it is there would not have been a peaceful way to live…
- 983 Words
- 4 Pages
Good Essays -
From 1929 to 1941, America was in a time period known as the Great Depression. During this time many people were unemployed and in poverty due to problems such as the stock market crash and banking failures. The Great Depression mostly affected cities, farms, Hoovervilles, and the Dust Bowl. There were many problems during the Great Depression and there were many actions taken against those problems.…
- 695 Words
- 3 Pages
Satisfactory Essays -
The America in the 1930s was drastically different from the luxurious 1920s. The stock market had crashed to an all time low, unemployment was the highest the country had ever seen, and all American citizens were affected by it in some way or another. Franklin Delano Roosevelt’s New Deal was effective in addressing the issues of The Great Depression in the sense that it provided immediate relief to US citizens by lowering unemployment, increasing trust in the banks, getting Americans out of debt, and preventing future economic crisis from taking place through reform. Despite these efforts The New Deal failed to end the depression. In order for America to get out of this economic disaster, the Federal Government rightly overstepped it’s constitutional bound to adopt the role of a “care taker” and establish a basic minimum of living for the American people.…
- 839 Words
- 3 Pages
Satisfactory Essays -
There were many downfalls in america’s economy, but there was one that vanquished them all, the great depression. Millions of people, rich or poor, were affected in different ways. Families searching in the trash for food, and farmers killing their sheep because they don’t make profit due to the price for shipping them. Those are two examples of many in which the great depression affected some.…
- 563 Words
- 3 Pages
Good Essays -
Jonathan Kozol’s “Fremont High School” describes the tragedies of Fremont High and how the staff and students are affected. Kozol shows Fremont High School a school in LA. He explains the squalor conditions both staff and students have to put up with. He discusses everything from the student count to bathrooms all with supporting details and first-hand accounts. He presents Fremont as a failure of the highest degree for a place of education. He shows the inequality and pathetic conditions at Fremont High. The purpose is to make the school visible for what it is a tragedy for everyone subjected to it."Fremont High School" is engaging, it shows what is happening, painting a picture of the high school with information…
- 872 Words
- 4 Pages
Good Essays -
The Great Depression was the most severe and longest economic collapse in the history of the Western World (North America and Europe). The Great Depression started on October 29th 1929, also known as Black Tuesday. On this infamous day in not only the United States history but also most of the Western Worlds, the stock market crashed, resulting in the wipe out of over 40 percent of the monetary values of common stock. The Great Depression lasted almost 10 years, ending in April of 1939.…
- 285 Words
- 2 Pages
Good Essays -
The Great Depression was a huge piece of our history here in the United States. It was a time of hope, struggle, and poverty. Some of the vital factors that contributed to the formation of the Great Depression include the rapid purchasing of stocks and the stock market crash, weak banking structure, and the care free spending among wealthy Americans. The Depression was not at all the outcome of one problem, rather multiple problems.…
- 451 Words
- 2 Pages
Good Essays -
Imagine this. You wake up one morning in the year 1929, in your luxurious, pricey mansion. You then make your way downstairs to eat that nice big breakfast. Then you kiss your family good bye and head off to your fancy job. You come home that evening and suddenly you’re flat broke. Meaning all your money and life’s savings vanished. Unreal right? Well it was real for hundreds of families on October 29, 1929. The day the stock market crashed and when America’s confidence was challenged greatly.…
- 708 Words
- 3 Pages
Good Essays -
After Black Tuesday the U.S went into an economic crisis known as the Great Depression. During the depression the poltical, economic, and social institutions in the U.S were in bad conditions. The government, various groups and individuals sought ways to address the problems that Americans faced. The Great Depression began during the stock market crash of 1929. Americans faced many challenges during the Great Depression. The government, various groups and many individuals tried to find ways to solve these problems.…
- 556 Words
- 3 Pages
Satisfactory Essays -
Social Security Act- This act established a system that provided old age pension for workers, survivor’s benefits for victims of industrial accidents, unemployment insurance, and air for defendant mothers and children, the blind and physically disabled.…
- 1119 Words
- 5 Pages
Better Essays -
In the 1920’s, known as the Jazz Age, America still had to deal with post World War I problems such as the League of Nations and the Treaty of Versailles which eventually led to the Kellogg- Briand Pact to officially end the war for the U.S. But once all World War I issues were settled, the nation was finally able to flourish during the Jazz Age. Under the leadership of Calvin Coolidge and Wilson Harding, people gained more rights through acts such as the nineteenth amendment for women's suffrage and the Adjusted Compensation Act to get better pay for veterans. But after the flourish of the 1920s, America had to deal with the Great Depression the decade after which received mixed responses from both Hoover and Franklin Roosevelt. But little did the Presidents know that the Great Depression will become a major turning point in American history as the United States government tries to respond to the greatest economic disaster in American history.…
- 257 Words
- 2 Pages
Good Essays -
When the Great Depression began in 1932, 13 million people were jobless and by 1933 28 states had no banks. It all started when a newspaper article said that the U.S. Bank was unstable, which caused people to go and withdraw their money from the banks. This made panic erupt and more people withdraw their money and eventually the banks ran out of money and collapsed. 2 million men and 200,000 children roamed the country or families lived in poor scrap neighborhoods called Hoovervilles, named after the president the people believed caused the depression, Herbert Hoover. Once Franklin D. Roosevelt was elected for president, he declared he was going to fix the problems that the Great Depression caused.…
- 580 Words
- 3 Pages
Good Essays -
Canada is a nation constructed from small stones of determination, and piles of perseverance. Today, Canada stands tall as a beacon of democracy and a fortress of ideological freedom. From the small stones of determination, to the status it wears proudly today, much has changed. It is the history that has shaped Canada into the nation it is; from the victorious moments to the days of misery and hardship. A prominent decade of true misery and hardship recalled by Canadians is the Great Depression. The Great Depression of the 1930s was a time of severe poverty, unemployment and unjust treatment experienced like never before by Canada. The Great Depression was unforeseen, yet inevitable. The Great Depression led many families to undertake drastic measures. This spark ignited a flame of downwards spiralling, leading the worst to be brought out in Canadians everywhere.…
- 1652 Words
- 7 Pages
Powerful Essays