I love Jonathan Kozol—as much as one can love anyone who tells horrific truths. And I say this after just finishing his The Shame of the Nation: The Restoration of Apartheid Schooling in America. Yep, folks, we're back to separate-but-not-equal.
Truths—as he sees them
1) "In a social order where it seems a common matter to believe that what we spend to purchase what we need bears some connection to the worth of what we get, a look at what we think it's in our interest to invest in children like Alliyah or Pineapple (elementary school interviewees) may not tell us everything we need to know about the state of educational fair play within our nation, but it surely tells us something about what we think these kids are worth to us in human terms and in the contributions they may someday make to our society." (page 44) Translation: if we saw any value in minority kids, we'd pay to educate them. Think about that and then dare to wonder why minority teens have no respect for the American system.
2) "We do not ask most children in America to summon up heroic qualities … in order to prevail." (page 61) If we did, wouldn't every child have to pull himself by his own bootstraps? What white, middle-class kid is asked to do that?
3) Student displays at inner-city schools are edited and corrected. "'The prevailing wisdom,' says The Times, is that these inner-city schools with 'long histories of failure and constant turnover of teachers' cannot afford to tolerate the 'misspellings or other errors that in wealthier, more successful schools' might be perceived as 'normal and even endearing.'" (page 81) And then there's surprise when the children don't take pride in "their" work being shown. My, my.
4) The goals of education: "Is future productivity, from this point on, to be the primary purpose of the education we provide our children?" (page 94) Or: "Beginning in the 1980 and continuing with little deviation right up to the present time, the notion of producing 'products' who will then produce more wealth for the society has come to be embraced by many politicians and, increasingly, by principals of inner-city schools that have developed close affiliations with the representatives of private business corporations." (page 95) And here I was, worried about universities being used as training schools for business. How yesterday of me.
5) The following from a superintendent in an inner-school district. "Our parents do not know what 'the best' is … but they want he best. When we have to assign their kids to summer sessions and portables while three miles down the road they can see schools with traditional calendars and with sufficient space, I can understand it when they ask, 'Why are our children not important?'" (page 171) My bet is a lot of the children see and ask similar things.
6) Moment of sadness: Kozol quotes a student who's unhappy when she's required to take "'a retarded class,' to use her words—that 'teaches things like the six continents,' which she said she'd learned in elementary school." (page 178) Sad, yes. But where—oh, where—do we start?
7) Kozol has a discussion with some students and asks them to write down possible explanations for the problems they discussed. "I was saddened to read these papers after talking with the students for so long, because their writing skills
would give no hint of the lucidity of thinking many demonstrated in our conversation." (page 184) Yes! Clarity of thought is linked to clarity of expression, whether expressed orally or in writing. Writing requires skills that can be taught. So why aren't they being taught? Too much time spent teaching the now-required tests? Poor teaching itself? Teachers who don't know? Again—where do we start?
8) Kozol warns us to be leery of the Texas test scores from the 1990s. There are indications of cheating. (page 206)
9) AEA members have been told that "education that does not promote the desire [for] earning … is not worth the getting." (page 211) OMG! My education is worth nothing. And I so enjoyed the getting. How sad.
10) Change in the current segregated education must come from public demand that leads to legislation, not the legislation itself. (page 258) Now there's a depressing thought. We'll have to do the 1950s and '60s over again. Once wasn't enough?
11) Kozol discusses how demoralizing it is for teachers to be presented with teacher-proof plans. (page 268) I can see and understand his point. At the same time though, I've seen some teachers who need teacher-proof plans. What do we do about them?
I'd like to end with a request. Some time ago I started a thread, asking what in the U. S. Constitution and court cases led to a right of privacy, which is not flat-out guaranteed in the constitution. I received many good responses. Kozol points out that "the notion that education is not a protected right … comes as a surprise to the majority of citizens." (page 254) Are there sections of the constitution that could be interpreted to guarantee a right to an equal education? Or have they been rendered meaningless by turn-back-the-clock decisions of the Supreme Court?
