Jonathan Kozol: Education in America (4 of 6)

August 27, 2010 on 12:35 pm | In Hypnotherapy | 13 Comments


www.mediaed.org Jonathan Kozol is a non-fiction writer, educator, and activist, best known for his books on public education in the United States. Kozol graduated from Noble and Greenough School in 1954, and Harvard University summa cum laude in 1958 with a degree in English Literature. He was awarded a Rhodes Scholarship to Magdalen College, Oxford. He did not, however, complete his Rhodes, deciding instead to go to Paris to write a novel. He spent four years there writing his only published work of fiction, The Fume of Poppies, and getting to know the likes of William Styron. It was upon his return that he began to tutor children in Roxbury, MA, and soon became a teacher in the Boston Public Schools. He was fired for teaching a Langston Hughes poem, as described in Death at an Early Age, and then became deeply involved in the civil rights movement. After being fired from BPS he was offered a job to teach for Newton Public Schools, the school district that he had attended as a child, and taught there for several years before becoming more deeply involved in social justice work and dedicating more time to writing. Kozol has since held two Guggenheim Fellowships, has twice been a fellow of the Rockefeller Foundation, and has also received fellowships from the Field and Ford Foundations. Kozol also has worked in the field of social psychology. Kozol is currently on the Editorial Board of Greater Good Magazine, published by the Greater Good Science Center of the University …

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  1. Jonathan Kozol is one of my favorites. He keeps it real with America and our policies and practices in education. Sor real that it scary. I am a teacher in the trenches and I appreciate what he says. Excellent !

    Comment by zwilliamsmil — Friday, August 27, 2010 #

  2. Another thing, perhaps you don’t know what benefit you can have with smaller class size because you’ve never had the chance? Ever think of that one?

    Comment by lialia719 — Friday, August 27, 2010 #

  3. But then it becomes only about taking and passing a test rather than an education. Hope you’re not a teacher, or maybe you are studying to be one? If you are, get ready for a big surprise.

    Comment by lialia719 — Friday, August 27, 2010 #

  4. @VoiceTeacher101 i would have to disagree, its much easier to explain something to a group of 20 than a group of 30 and so on. When less students are in classes you have less classroom management problems and can give more time to students who need help. NCLB is just stupid in that its setting standards so high that no one can achieve them, NCLB is just a term set up to make it seem that we are trying, but in reality we are just taking money from schools who need it

    Comment by LMcCloskey0 — Friday, August 27, 2010 #

  5. yes, I have read one of his books. His book was more convincing because it looked at specific schools and their lack of funds. Here he is making broad generalizations about how nothing good will come out of classrooms that have 40 students. I agree that a student’s education would be much better if the classrooms were smaller, but the classroom size can’t take all the blame. That is one good thing about NCLB, it requires that teachers are highly certified to teach.

    Comment by VoiceTeacher101 — Friday, August 27, 2010 #

  6. Generally speaking, the better schools in the better areas attract the better teachers. Have you actually ever read any of Kozol’s books?

    Comment by glamatomic — Friday, August 27, 2010 #

  7. what does money have to do with how a teacher responds to a student? The poor schools and the rich schools both have to adhere to NCLB. Maybe its not the money, but the teachers at the poor schools that are the problem. My classrooms in high school were 40 kids a classroom and i’m in college.

    Comment by VoiceTeacher101 — Friday, August 27, 2010 #

  8. Yeah all countries seem to have caste systems. Including some societies where everyone is the same race.

    Comment by adeart7 — Friday, August 27, 2010 #

  9. Kozol seems so sincere. he came to my school but i didn’t see the ads so i missed it. i hope mef puts up the other parts soon. have a great weekend.

    Comment by wagechi29 — Friday, August 27, 2010 #

  10. This was very good, thanks for sharing such great insight and sad experiences. I’m glad someone is talking about this, thank you, THANK YOU!!

    Comment by smcuriel — Friday, August 27, 2010 #

  11. Hear hear, I second that…

    Comment by blackberryjuice1 — Friday, August 27, 2010 #

  12. can’t wait to see part 5 and 6.

    Comment by wagechi29 — Friday, August 27, 2010 #

  13. What about hinduism? Don’t they believe untouchable children are less valuable than those of other castes?

    Comment by leitermann — Friday, August 27, 2010 #

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