He found that conditions had grown worse for inner-city children in the 50 years since the Supreme Court in the landmark ruling of Brown v. Board of Education dismantled the previous policy of de jure segregated schools and their concept of "separate but equal".

"[1][2] In a separate quote from Gary Orfield in a letter to AllArtsAllKids.org, he mentions that, "the country clearly has had enough of the drill, kill, test & punish, and learn only two subjects style of NCLB reform...".

Teachers in urban school are strongly encouraged to follow these scripted lessons to bring formality and structure to the learning environment.

This trend starts at the elementary school level with 'Help Wanted' signs, classroom jobs labeled as 'managers', and students keep 'earnings-tracking' charts on their desks.

The influence of managerial thinking continues into urban high schools, where students are strongly encouraged to select a 'career path' during their freshman year, so they may tailor their course work.

In this chapter, Kozol looks into the damaging effects of high-stakes tests, specifically on inner-city children who are almost destined to fail as a result of limited resources.

The subjects that are not included in these high-stakes tests, such as geography, history, and science are no longer being taught, consequently lowering the quality of education for students in low performing schools.

These applications usually call for an understanding of a contract, and a written "educational philosophy", two things that would be near impossible for an illiterate or non-English speaking parent to complete.

As the program began to work, money was reduced, and this quick reduction resulted in the abandonment of Higher Horizons after 7 years.

"The right of transfer" was a provision introduced in this chapter that gave off a false hope for children of poor people to attend well off schools that were available to middle-class communities.

Using the words of Jack White, a writer at Time magazine, Kozol begins by examining the need for a broad political movement.

"Herewith...a radical proposal...Revive the civil rights movement, which went into limbo long before some of its most important goals were accomplished..." (Kozol, 2005, p. 216).

Local, state, and federal courts cases have attempted to bring desegregation and equality to public schools in many different parts of the country.

Kozol explores both successful (e.g. Brown vs. Board of Education) and unsuccessful attempts (e.g. San Antonio Independent School District v. Rodriguez).

Overall Kozol's analysis presents evidence (through several key cases) that the courts have been either unwilling or unable to correct the issue.

It is one of those deadly lies which by sheer repetition, is at length accepted by large numbers of Americans…From the legislative branch Kozol moves to the executive.

By reviewing the impact of No Child Left Behind and high-stakes achievement tests, this chapter further demonstrates the increasing imbalance in quality of public schools.

The basic argument presented in the book is that no matter how much students are told they can succeed and how much educators teach to the test, schools that have inadequate funding will inevitably suffer.

According to Kozol the largely Republican controlled presidency of the last 28 years has further segregated American schools through a failed education policy.

Kozol argues that the "standards-based reform" is an effort to address the scoring gap between high and low socio-economic schools through the use of positive thinking and sheer willpower.

As for the small school initiative, Kozol is generally supportive of the idea but is critical when it amounts to many smaller segregated learning institutions around the nation.