Jonathan Kozol Essay for Exam 1

In Jonathan Kozol’s “The Shame of the Nation,” he talks about how there is still a notion of “separate but equal” in the inner city public schools. Kozol says that African American and Hispanic students tend to be concentrated in schools where they make up the majority of the student body. He points out the disparity for opportunity and success between the inner city schools kids and the wealthier suburban families. Although the Brown vs. Board of Education court case got rid of “separate but equal” in public schools, Kozol makes the point throughout this book, that kids at the inner city schools are at a major disadvantage when it comes to having adequate resources and opportunities to learn.

For Kozol, the idea that inner city children do not have the same opportunities as the children from wealthier suburban families is a major crime. In these schools, the kids are taught a curriculum that is geared solely toward state testing and being a good worker after high school. The sad thing about this is that the administration and teachers in these schools do not encourage kids toward a higher education such as college, but rather teach them to succeed on the state tests and to be good workers instead. Kozol visited over sixty different inner city public schools and found that these students were at a major disadvantage to those in wealthy suburban school districts. For example, Kozol was speaking to the principal of one of the schools he visited, and she told him that they tell these kids that they can grow up to be good managers of stores one day. The sad part about that statement is that the administration in these schools are not encouraging students to explore jobs that interest them, but rather that they should aspire to be managers, almost as if that is the students’ highest potential. In these schools, the idea of pursuing a college education was simply not presented to the students nor was it encouraged.

Kozol talks about the idea that in today’s public schools, there is a sort of “apartheid” that is set up, meaning that kids in wealthy suburban schools get more opportunities to succeed and more resources to draw from then the kids in inner city schools. Personally, I very much agree with his position, because it is very evident that not all schools get the same amount of funding. The reason why I agree here with Kozol is because wealthier families that used to live in the inner city move to suburban districts to ensure that their children can go to a school that is allocated more funds and will give their children a better education. That is why we see so many schools that are dominated by the minority population not receiving proper funds and resources to allow their students to succeed. So in turn, the children in minority-dominated schools are not given the same opportunity as wealthy suburban schools and that is simply fair.

In my opinion, there are several distinct ways in order to solve this problem that Kozol is talking about. First, I believe that the students in the inner city schools have to be given more resources and opportunities to succeed, whether that be through government grants and funds or special programs, but something has to change there. Also, the faculty in those schools should be encouraging their students toward something higher, encouraging them to reach their highest and fullest potential, encouraging them toward a college education, not just settling for managerial jobs. One of the most amazing things to see is someone reach their fullest potential, so why not encourage students to do that? I firmly believe that all students deserve to have a quality education and it is wrong to deny anyone that opportunity. As for the curriculum, it should not be focused on standardized tests. While I think that those tests are important, students need to learn the traditional subjects, as well as be able to participate in hands on experiments, fully engaging in the learning process.

I believe that Jonathan Kozol presents some very sensitive subject areas, but they are important for us to think about. We cannot afford to sit around any longer and let this inequality between inner city schools and suburban schools continue to exist. That is why we as leaders in education must strive to do everything we can to help these kids get the kind of education that they deserve. That is where I stand on this issue of education.

Cornel West "Race Matters" Chapters 5-8

“Race Matters” Chapters 5-8

5) In chapter 5, West talks about affirmative action and how it has greatly helped deter institutions, companies, and schools from using discriminatory practices. He also says that without affirmative action, racial and sexual discrimination would continue to spread rapidly. West then proceeds to talk about how African Americans and Jewish Americans have been able to get along because both groups have gone through major adversity and discrimination, but at the same time, that recent events have caused the two groups to grow apart. He touches on a very sensitive subject in chapter 7, where he discusses black sexuality and dispels the myths that all black people having a dominating sexual prowess. In the final chapter, Cornel West reflects on the life of Malcolm X and shows how Malcolm X encouraged blacks in America to channel their rage in hopes that this would create love for one another in the black community, but his idea backfired in that he and his followers turned violent and ended up hurting society more than helping it.

4) “The urgent problem of black poverty is primarily due to the distribution of wealth, power, and income—a distribution influenced by the racial caste system that denied opportunities to the most ‘qualified’ black people until two decades ago” (West 93).

“There was no golden age in which blacks and Jews were free of tension and friction” (West 104).

“The dominant myths draw black women and men either as threatening creatures who have the potential for sexual power over whites, or as harmless, desexed underlings of a white culture” (West 119).

“Malcolm believed that if black people felt the love that motivated that rage, the love would produce a psychic conversion in black people; they would affirm themselves as human beings, no longer viewing their bodies, minds, and souls through white lenses, and believing themselves capable of taking control of their own destinies” (West 136).

3) Affirmative action- one of the main reasons why racial and sexual discrimination has decreased as much as it has in the past two decades.

Black sexuality- West says that black sexuality tends to play a big role in society, but that too often people form stereotypes about black people and their sexuality.

Myth- I think West focuses a lot of his attention on getting all the information out on the table and doing his best to dispel myths that have caused people to form stereotypes.

2) This series of chapters really made me think for several reasons. First of all, it made me realize that too often, we as a society fail to recognize that race plays a huge role in everyday life. It serves as an “elephant in the room” many times but we are too afraid to address it and openly talk about it. Also, when it comes to sexuality, I think Cornel West is spot on. People too often tend to stereotype black people when it comes to their sexuality. I think that the American culture as a whole is very judgmental and these stereotypes are a prime example of the judgment.

1) Why is it so easy for people today to completely dismiss the idea that race has an impact on so many things we do as a society?

Countdown Paper for Cornell West (Chapter 1-4)

Race Matters

5) In his book “Race Matters,” Cornell West talks about how a people live and act helps to decide the situation and lifestyles that they live. He talks about nihilism, in that, African Americans use this to ward of hopelessness and meaninglessness in their lives. West’s biggest idea is the idea of “Politics of Conversion,” which essentially combines the two main ideas of thought between the liberals and conservatives of the day. It says that shows why black people in America suffer the way they do, but it also promotes self-esteem and self-affirmation. West also points to the fact that there is a major lack of black leadership in America, and how the lack of leadership has lead to the African American conservative movement.

4) “How people act and live are shaped—though in no way dictated or determined—by the larger circumstances in which they find themselves” (West 18).

“They hesitate to talk honestly about culture, the realm of meanings and values, because doing so seems to lend itself too readily to conservative conclusions in the narrow way American discuss race” (West 20).

“The failure of nerve of black leadership is its refusal to undermine and dismantle the framework of racial reasoning” (West 38).

“We indeed must criticize and condemn immoral acts of black people, but we must do so cognizant of the circumstances into which people are born and under which they live” (West 85).

3) Race- Cornell West points to race as a huge issue in America even today, and shapes his whole argument around why race is such an important part of American society.

“Politics of Conversion”- This is West’s idea that there are some reasons why African Americans suffer, while at the same time, promotes self-esteem and self-affirmation.

Black Leadership- West says that a lack of African American leadership in America has caused the African American conservative movement, so he is calling for African American leaders to rise up and change that.

2) I think that most people try to not talk about the issue of race. West however, brings it to the forefront and forces the issue. I think its great that he does this, because it forces people to talk about why race is an important issue and why we as a society need to talk about it, even if its uncomfortable. He also brings up another interesting point, saying that most people tend to only listen to people that they agree with instead of listening to both sides of the argument. I personally can see this is daily life, because when it comes to race, people don’t want to listen to anything that will make them uncomfortable or positions that challenge their own beliefs. People seem to be afraid to listen to other points of view and ideas that are in opposition to their own.

1) Why do so many people brush off the issue of race, when in reality it is a huge deal that applies to situations in everyday life?

Countdown Paper For Chapters 11 & 12 in Kozol

5) In these chapters, Kozol looks at the No Child Left Behind Act, as well as high stakes testing, and says that these two factors have increased the parody in quality in public schools. Kozol is making the point that no matter how much motivation and will to succeed these kids and teachers have, if they do not have the funding to do it, then they will fail. He also talks about the “standard-based reform”, which tries to address the scoring gap between schools that are wealthy and schools that are poor, by using positive thinking and willpower to succeed. The main reason why Kozol is not fully supportive of this is because he says that it only benefits the students short term, in that their competency does not improve. Although there are so many negative things going on in the public school system, Kozol point to a few examples of hope, specifically a teacher and principal at P.S 30 in New York.

4) “If the officials who repeat this incantation honestly believe all kids can learn, why aren’t they fighting to make sure these kids can learn in the same good schools their own children attend?” (Kozol 266).

“Most parents recognize that certain things that matter in a child’s education do require hard work and well-organized sequential processes of learning and expect their children’s teachers to provide the framework in which this is possible” (Kozol 270).

“I would argue that ‘the best hope’ lies in small schools that are also making conscientious efforts to appeal to a diversity of students rather than permit themselves to reproduce or to intensify the pre-existing isolation of their student populations” (Kozol 277).

“What these policies and practices will do, what they are doing now, is expand the vast divide between two separate worlds of future cognitive activity, political sagacity, social health and economic status, while they undermine the capability of children of minorities to thrive with confidence and satisfaction in the mainstream of American society” (Kozol 284).

3) Scoring gap- Kozol says that the scoring gap between high and low socioeconomic schools on standardized tests has become disturbingly large.

Segregation- Kozol talks about how the public schools with fewer amounts of minorities tend to have more success then those that have a majority of minorities. He says this is relevant, because many of the lower socioeconomic minority schools do not have the funds and means to help their students succeed.

Standard-Based Reform- Kozol says that the students and teachers are focusing too much time on doing well on the standardized tests, that the students’ competency level fails to increase.

2) I think Kozol presents a good point when he says that standard-based reform only helps out the students and teachers in the short run. This causes teachers to solely prepare the students for the standardized tests, and thus the students do not learn anything in depth. Their competency also suffers, because they have to digest so much information about the tests, that they do not learn much of anything else. I also remember taking a mission trip to Brooklyn when I was in 9^th grade, and seeing the kinds of schools that Kozol describes in his book. Looking back on that experience, I now realize the kind of education that they were getting. It makes me sad to know that the students in the lower socioeconomic schools are not getting the same kind of opportunities for success as others.

1) Why even today is there such a big gap in learning between high socioeconomic schools and low socioeconomic schools?

Countdown Paper For Jonathan Kozol

5) In the first six chapters of “The Shame of a Nation”, Kozol talks about the parody between schools that are privileged and do not have a strong percentage of minorities and schools that have minorities as the majority population. Kozol presents a disturbing statistic: in urban public schools in New York City, the city is spending an average of $8,000 per student, as opposed to suburban schools that spend an average of $18,000 per student. This means that the kids in the suburban schools are getting much more opportunities to learn and resources to work with. He also says that most of the inner city schools use a curriculum that is driven by state testing and thus the students are not given the same opportunities as students in other schools. He says that this is devastating to inner city kids especially, because they are given fewer resources to work with, and are destined to fail.

4) ‘In the new era of ‘separate but equal,’ segregation has somehow come to be viewed as a type of school reform’ (Kozol 20).

“As it turned out, the use of private subsidies to supplement the tax-supported budgets of some schools in affluent communities was a more commonly accepted practice than most people in the city’s poorest neighborhoods had known” (Kozol 47).

“Learning itself—the learning of a skill, or the enjoying of a book, and even having an idea—is now defined increasingly not as a process or preoccupation that holds satisfaction of its own but in proprietary terms, as if it were the acquisition of an object or stock-option or the purchase of a piece of land” (Kozol 96).

“Most Americans whose children aren’t in public school have little sense of the inordinate authority that now is granted to these standardized exams and, especially within the inner-city schools, the time the tests subtract from actual instruction” (Kozol 112).

3) Segregation- Kozol refers to the inner city schools as being highly populated by minorities and segregated.

Consequences- Kozol says that the kids in the inner city schools have to deal with the consequences of not having the same resources to work with and opportunities to learn.

Unequal- Kozol says that kids in suburban schools are given better opportunities to learn and tat it is unequal and unfair for the inner city kids who do not get those same chances.

2) I think the first six chapters of this book have made me really appreciate the quality schooling I’ve had my entire life. It just makes me wonder what would happen if everybody got the opportunity to have the same education that I have gotten to the chance to experience. Knowing that kids like Pineapple in the story aren’t getting a good quality education makes me sad, because every child has the right to a good education.

1) Why aren’t inner city kids given the same opportunities and resources to be able to learn and succeed?