Jonathan Kozol: Education in America (3 of 6)

http://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 of California, Berkeley. Kozol's contributions include the interpretation of scientific research into the roots of compassion, altruism, and peaceful human relationships.

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News & Politics

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• MEF
• Jonathan
• Kozol
• racism
• race
• education
• kids
• children
• segregation

[ppvincent08]

@theRedPress - agreed. good words my friend.

[theRedPress]

@ppvincent08 Parents can be to blame as well, or overworked teacher who can't possibly give a kid the attention he/she needs in a class with too many kids. Young kids who are already in gangs, come to class and have to stand without a desk because they don't have room or they didn't have funds for buildings so they resort to small trailers. Our society has a ton of problems, there's no simple solution for any of it, but if we don't work together it will get worse, for us and our children too.

[jillkcannon]

@bizakis9

I could not have said it better than you have. Thank you for sharing your thoughts.

[bizakis9]

I wish our system of education reflected the experience, research and wisdom of Jonathan Kozol

[ppvincent08]

I hear what he's saying and suggesting he's not 100% correct. How can any one person be? Take a moment to honestly reflect and consider there are two sides to every coin. Yes, he's got some great points and heart-felt passion, but is his the best solution? I just don't think so...

Not all children are at a disadvantage because of their school's budget. I would vehemently argue that some parents just don't care. What should the government do about those families? Send them more money?

[jamesharrel]

@ppvincent08

Fair enough. Why do you disagree with him? On what research/expertise do you base your disagreement? What evidence do you have that refutes what he is saying? And don't rattle off your degrees; college is only preparatory, not an end in itself. And don't relate your narrow years of experience doing "X, Y, or Z."

All of that aside, agree with him or not, you did miss the point, utterly.

[MattyTheMole]

@mwc1954 That thinking comes from the old Japanese saying "There is no such thing as a bad student, only a bad teacher."

[AmericaisRIGHT]

@mwc1954 or maybe it's the parents?

[mwc1954]

When children fail, it's the schools fault, not the child's.

[ppvincent08]

I didn't miss the point, I just don't agree with him 100%.