Chapter 4 creates another comparison between the town of Camden, New Jersey, and the neighboring suburb of Cherry Hill. Within this comparison, Kozol attacks the argument that money "doesn't buy better education," made in a Wall Street Journal editorial. The argument made is that the material disparities in education are of lesser importance than culture and values. However, Kozol's rebuttal to this argument is not that money is irrelevant, but that these material disparities and inequities affect students in both tangible and intangible ways. Kozol uses the comparison between Camden and Cherry Hill to illustrate the weaknesses of the Wall Street Journal argument.

Camden, New Jersey is a city in deep economic and social distress. Once a vital commercial and industrial city, most of the industries have departed. Most of the jobs in Camden, Kozol notes, are not held by Camden residents. Five hundred of the city's 2,200 public-housing units are boarded up. The streets cave in from disrepair, and there are no funds for permanent fixes. The schools lack modern science equipment and computers.

Kozol remarks that these dilapidated surroundings and diminished opportunities create cycles of failure, cycles that discourage and humiliate Camden's students and residents. This negative environment stems directly from the city's economic situation: Aside from RCA and Campbell's, only a trash incinerator and sewage-treatment offer employment, aside from two prisons.