Class Privileges
Dalton discovers a major privilege of the middle and upper class: The freedom to construct their own narrative of cause and effect. He learns that he is never questioned when he presents his side of the story. For example, he lies, or "withholds information" as he calls it, when he confesses his stealing from a shop. Later, when the fire official interrogates him, he lies about the true cause of the fire in Raphael's apartment. Again, his version of the story is accepted without being challenged.
Injustice
Dalton observes that white people are treated differently for the same offense. For example, even though he is just as mischievous as his friends in the black class at "Mini School," he does not receive any corporal punishment like the other children. He concludes that the black teacher does not want to "cross the racial line," but this unequal treatment bothers him, as he develops ticks and twitches.
Another example of inequality is his neighbor Mark, who was arrested by the police during a drug raid. Having recently turned 18, he was tried as an adult, receiving the minimum sentence of 25 years in prison (he points out that the average murderer receives only five years, which is another form of injustice). In contrast, Dalton's own sister was also involved in drugs; however, "was surrounded by enough protective influences that her teenage rebellion never gathered enough momentum to ruin her life chances, as it had for Marc."
The Education System
Dalton's account focuses mostly on his time at various schools, which represent a failing education system. Instead of battling the causes of poverty and segregation, trying to give impoverished children a chance at succeeding in life, they preserve the status quo. For example, the classes at Dalton's "mini school" are segregated by race, and in the black classroom, students still receive corporal punishment.
When Dalton tries to earn some money, the principal threatens his employer, condemning child labor. However, he fails to suggest other options that would enable a poor child like Dalton to earn some money legally. Dalton concludes that the only way for him to get money is by stealing.
Later, the administrators at I.S. 70 do not seem to care to personally involve his parents when his grades decline, enabling him to forge his father's signature on his report card. Apparently, they accepted the fact that his father also did not seem to respond to the poor grades.
Finally, when he is transferred to the vocational curriculum, which is designed to give less academically inclined students opportunities in the job market as well, he observes that the subjects are not useful at all. For example, the students learn how to change typewriter ribbons when it is clear that they would never have to apply this skill later in the computer age.
Moreover, he reports inexplicable grade jumps when he transfers from one school to another. Therefore, he criticizes the education system even though there are some episodes where he benefits from its bureaucracy: He is only able to transfer to the middle-class school in Greenwich Village because of a loophole in the system.
