The Broadways - Jonathan Kozol Was Right... lyrics

i read a book the other day about public schools in our nation

an indictment of our prevailing caste system

it seems so many things i've taken for granted others cant access at all

i ditched computer class while others had no books

i learned to hate my halls, there's holes in walls in schools right in my town

serving the rich, keeping the lower classes down

what do i mean by this statement?

it seems only too clear with your english class in a bathroom

how well do you think you'd fare?

i read of schools so overcrowded no room could be saved

not auditoriums, cafeterias or closet space.

a school's income is determined by property tax

and how much money can you get from poor mexican

and black families trapped in slums

poor kids need the most attention

but since they're untaxable they get none

and because the system sucks when the kids grow up

they'll have to send their kids back into the system that fucked them

it's a cycle that for years has not been broken

there's a name for this it's social reproduction

and we maintain this caste system by letting them enforce it

we're all flowers growing in a garbage can"

the teachers tell their kids

but how can a flower grow when the sunlight's blocked by the lid?

disribute property tax more fairly at least that's a start

cuz little flowers can't grow in the darkness they need everything we've got.