East Saint Louis is a city in the heart of the Midwest that is haunted by its once thriving community and past successes. This city used to lead the nation in sales of farm animals, steel, paint, aluminum, and meatpacking, attracting many blacks from the south to these “prosperous” jobs (Kozol, 1991). Unannounced to them, they were being used strictly as strikebreakers. As a result of the great depression and racial controversy because of the large influx of blacks, most industries left East St. Louis in search of cheaper labor leaving thousands of people in an empty city (Kozol, 1991). Since then, the general environment of East St. Louis has rapidly and steadily declined. Among the many current problems of East St. Louis some of the most prevalent consist of sewage overflows into streets and buildings, toxic air and soil from surrounding chemical plants, severe poverty (and in turn high crime rates), and an astonishing 55% of the population is unemployed (Kozol, 1991). The environmental issues of East St. Louis both literally and figuratively spill over from the streets into the schools giving the children here no escape. “In 1989 Martin Luther King Junior High School was evacuated on a Friday afternoon because sewage was flowing into the kitchen” (Kozol, 1991). In societies of severe poverty children are aware early on in life that their success is limited, knowing this prohibits motivation and a positive outlook towards their future. “Mr. Solomon, the history teacher at East St. Louis High School, says ‘I have four girls right now in my senior home room who are pregnant or have just had babies’ when Solomon asks why this is so the girls tell him ‘Well, there’s no reason not to have a baby. There’s not much for me in public schools.’ This statement isn’t too far off, because the drop out rate is so high in and a diploma from
