Kozol comments that many people in the United States speak of poverty as the result of people's personal values or similar factors rather than as the result of economic injustice, despite the acknowledgement that economic injustice exists in other countries. Thus, some argue incorrectly that spending money is not part of the way to solve the problem of unequal schools. Kozol tells of the influence of his mother's Reform Jewish religious beliefs on his life. During the civil rights movement of the 1960s, he volunteered to tutor in an urban summer school for black children and then decided to become a public school teacher. He is the author of "Death at an Early Age" and "Savage Inequalities." He states that urban ghettos are a sin rather than a mistake, because society can easily fix mistakes. He concludes that New York City is effective in areas that matter to the city, but it apparently does not care to relieve the suffering of the poor in ways that might exact a price from the very rich. He hopes that the country will have a renewed struggle and will achieve a change that is both spiritual and political.