- ISBN13: 9781400052455
- Condition: NEW
- Notes: Brand New from Publisher. No Remainder Mark.
Over the last 15 years, the state of inner-city public schools has been in a steep and continuing decline. Since the federal courts began dismantling the landmark ruling in Brown v. Board of Education, segregation of black children has reverted to its highest level since 1968. In many inner-city schools, a stick-and-carrot method of behavioral control traditionally used in prisons is now used with students. Meanwhile, as high-stakes testing takes on pathological and… More >>
The Shame of the Nation: The Restoration of Apartheid Schooling in America
This is a typical slanted liberal diatribe against the Bush administration and conservatives in general. It has been shown time and again that funding is not the key determinator of how students achieve. Washington DC schools have some of the highest funding in the USA and yet the schools are terrible. Its liberals like him with their allies in the teachers unions who prevent vouchers, charter schools and other inovative ideas that are the real cause of problems.
Rating: 1 / 5
Kozon’s ideas have ruined thousands of black lives. The Orleans Parish School system is an example. It has applied his theries for 30 years. The board is predominately black. With the exception of one Hispanic, all the superintendents have been black. Almost 100% of the teachers, administrators, and students are black. The test scores are the lowest in Louisiana. Armed guards at every school and sometimes in every classroom cannot stop the crimes, including murders and rape. At Fortier High School, the valedictorian failed the exit exam four times. The black power structure has looted more than $100 million from the system. These are the victims of Kozol’s educational theories. You may have seen some of them at the Superdome and Convention Center after Hurricane Katrina. They were totally dependent on the government. By contrast, the parochial and charter schools who do not use Kozol’s theories are able to successfully educate blacks from the same population. If you buy this book, you will become Kozol’s accessory.
Rating: 1 / 5
Kozol spews his normal emotional stuff but fails to get to the underlying problem: government-provided goods always have at least 2 out of 3 features: they cost a lot, they are low in quality, and they harm the poor. Government education wins the Trifecta: it does all three.
If someone said that lower income people who get food stamps should have to spend their food stamps in government run supermarkets, we would see the idiocy: government has no edge in producing or distributing food. Well, now we have government giving education stamps but saying they have to be spent in government run education stores. Kozol has no right to be shocked.
Rating: 2 / 5
This book was delivered in just a couple of days with standard shipping! The book itself is very good.
Rating: 5 / 5
In this book Jonathan Kozol continues his calls for closure of the funding gap that stands between ‘poor’ inner city schools that have a disproportional number of Black and Hispanic children and more wealthier ‘White’ schools in the suburbs.
While I agree that there are schools who’s funding level are below that which is necessary to operate a school and thus should qualify for suplemental funds from the state or federal government, Mr. Kozol continues to put forth the notion that the funding issue alone is the primary reason for the performance gap between these two sets of schools. He focuses on how the funding impacts the physical plant of the schools, the quality of teachers that they are able to attract and the courses that they are able to offer.
Where I disgree with Mr. Kozol is that one cannot dismiss the notion that Mr. Kozol tacitly puts forth the notion that all Black schools are inherently subpar. He makes note that Clarence Thomas has put forth such a notion as well but HE NEVER DISPELLS THIS NOTION.
Where is the comparison of per pupil funding between poor White schools in Appalachia and those districts in inner city New York versus the lilly White communities that he makes mention of? If funding is the primary issue and none other then his comparison should stand beyond the racial analysis.
Kozol proposes that school funding be Federalized as the primary means of insuring equal funding among students. (Again I support minimum funding standards). Mr. Kozol does not entertain the question of what should be done when we reach a point of “equal per student funding” and the performance gap still remains.
The history of this country has shown that too often “equal outcomes” enforced by the feds are typically a case of bringing others DOWN to a certain standard rather than lifting those who are currently behind up to a given standard. Add the fact that the Federal government is already strained financially and it becomes clear that Black and Hispanic students should not pursue this as their primary means of educational salvation.
In the end Mr. Kozol asks LITTLE of the local communities to improve the academic performance of their children and to maintain the phyicial plant of their schools.
His attacks on ‘No Child Left Behind’ discounts the overall framework for the program as he details the testing components of the program but does not emphasize the mandates for minimum school attendence rates and universal testing for all students in a school (English as a Second Language, Special Education students).
Mr. Kozol’s plan of action only means that parents in these schools continue to wait as others provide them resources that their community stands to benefit from the most. If there is in fact racism that has these resources being denied it seems foolish to direct one’s expectations for “salvation” toward this same source who has shorted you for so long.
Rating: 3 / 5