Kozol's Piece

Reading all of pieces from the Humanities Base text have been kind of interesting. At first glance when I read some of them, it was not as clear as some of the others about how they connected to the humanities themes. But then after discussing them in class, they became more clear how they were connected to the humanities themes.

I do not really think that there was anything that I had not already discussed in a previous English class. The themes that we talked about in class are all things that I had heard of before. I think that the readings did do a good job of exploring the different themes. I think some of them were better at getting their point across than others. I think the piece that got the point across the best for me was definitely Kozol’s piece “Savage Inequalities”.

I think Kozol’s piece was the most effective because of the description that was used for everything. The vivid details he used to talk about how bad the town of East St. Louis had gotten made me feel like I had walked down the street in East St. Louis before. I also think that the description he used made it the most shocking piece that we read. I guess I knew that there were placing like that that still existed in the United States, but I never put that much thought into it. Reading Kozol’s piece really made me think about what it would be like to live in those kind of conditions. If I had to live like that I do not know what I would do. I have never seen any type of living conditions that are that bad anywhere around me so it is hard to imagine a place like East St. Louis.

Knowing that there are places like East St. Louis in the United States, makes me think that somebody should be doing something to help the people that are stuck there. But I think that the people of East St. Louis would also have to put some effort into making their town better. If the people that the living in those conditions do not want to do anything to change their situation, then why should someone from the outside try to come and help them. I do not think that people should ever have to live that way, but if they are not trying to help themselves, then why should others try to help them. I do think that it is a shame that the United States tries to help outside countries so much when there are places here in our country that are in need of some major attention.

So of all the pieces in the Humanities book I think that Kozol’s piece is the most effective and it is the one that made me think the most. I think that is the one that others would also take the most away from. It is the one that happened most recently and is also, in my opinion, the most shocking. Of all the pieces this is the one that got the most reaction from me as well as the one that I think is the most memorable.