This book examines what is happening, in the context of segregated and unequal public education, to children from poor families in the inner cities and less affluent suburbs, and describes how children of poor families get less real education, less hope, and less concern than children from rich families. Chapter 1 of the book examines the causes and impact of the spiritual, racial, and economic isolation confronting the residents and public school students of East St. Louis, Illinois. In chapter 2, the loss of factories and increase in gangs, reliance on low-paid teacher substitutes, disparity in funding between schools, and other negative factors impacting the lives of school-aged children on the south side of Chicago are discussed. Chapter 3 explores expenditures per pupil and inequities in staffing and supplies, and identifies the denial of the means of competition as the most consistent outcome of the public education offered to poor children in New York and other large cities. In chapter 4, the plight of children's education in Camden, New Jersey, the nation's fourth-poorest city, is described. Chapter 5 notes the District of Columbia's dual system of education, in which magnet schools attract the wealthiest children and poor schools attract the poorest children. Finally, in chapter 6, incidents of inequalities in the public school system in San Antonio, Texas, are discussed. (SM)