Exam 1 Essay 1

Having read Jonathan Kozol’s The Shame of the Nation, I feel that I have gained such an exemplary insight into the lives of schoolchildren throughout the United States, and am so grateful for the chance to speak out for each and every one of them. In his book, Kozol shares of his encounters mostly with severely underprivileged schools throughout our country. Providing more than ample examples and situations which he experienced with the children, Kozol’s main thesis is that, presently, the nation remains in a state of apartheid schooling. He writes that “segregation, rarely discussed, scarcely even acknowledged by elected officials and schools leaders …is incompatible with the healthy functioning of a multiracial generation” (20). I could not agree with Kozol more in finding it of the utmost importance that all children of the nation receive an equal chance for a safe environment with beneficial educational instruction and the comfort of knowing that someone has faith in them to learn and succeed.
In the land of equal opportunity, there should not be so many students in the nation’s school system experiencing unequal chances. Kozol says, “Racial isolation and the concentrated poverty of children in a public school go hand in hand…Only 15 percent of the intensely segregated white schools in the nation have student populations in which more than half are poor enough to be receiving free meals or reduced price meals. By contrast, a staggering 86 percent of intensely segregated black and Latino schools have student enrollments in which more than half are poor by the same standards” (20). Some may ask, “How did these schools become segregated and poor after the Brown v. Board decision was made?” The answer is simple; schools rely on their surroundings. Unfortunately, existing residential segregation creates vast inequality. It began when Thomas Jesse Jones, a known educated black man, seemingly surrendered to a racial caste system and suggested blacks attend schools of industrial instruction rather than higher thinking. W.E.B Dubois, however, recognized this mistake; he argued that differing schools for differing races put the black children at a disadvantage. Society was not as willing to accept Dubois’ idea as it was Jones’. From the beginning, whites did not want non-whites learning to read and write because it would provide equal opportunity. Sickeningly, similar instances still exist today in 2010. Racial segregation takes place in the schools because whites leave the area in order to preserve their “pure”-schooled children when non-whites begin moving into a school district. This “white-flight” is how residential segregation is attainable. Not only are the tax dollars from these residents what the school relies on, but also the residents themselves. When wealthier, white families flee integration, however, such areas lose resources. Less-fortunate parents cannot donate large sums of money or spend their time fundraising for Parent Teacher Association like wealthier whites can. Kozol’s experiences report that in too large a majority of mostly non-white schools, students with limited family resources are dealing with school officials , “giving them less and calling it more” (131). Kozol interviewed Dr. Thomas Sobol, the former state commissioner of education in New York and he said that as teachers are forced to raise standardized test scores and that, “We are… limiting what we teach to what we can easily measure, pushing our students to focus on memorizing information, then regurgitating fact” (131). With lack of funding for better teachers and curriculum, non-white children are exposed to the same, basic, work-based curriculum suggested by greedy whites in the 1800s.Children are being forced not to actually grasp concepts, but to memorize answers for a test so that they can not only pass a grade and go to work. It is a cruel, unfair cycle that began with slavery and must end with us.
Curriculum and instruction aside, African American and Latino students are placed into unfit schoolhouses. When a student goes to school, he/she should feel safe; if a child feels unsafe and unsteady, he/she’s fears will fill his/her mind and he/she is not going to be able to focus and learn. In Los Angeles, some students were reported describing their room. “’I saw a rat in room 28,’ wrote a boy Daniel in the fourth grade of an elementary school… ‘The room smelled very bad and it made me sick to my stomach. There was blood all over the place’” (172). When children are asked to learn in such inhumane circumstances, no desirable results can truly be expected. At the elementary school I work at, I have heard the testimonies of the students as to how their life at home is run. Though each story breaks my heart, I cannot help but to listen intently in an attempt to begin to understand the circumstances that they undergo which I will never see. One little girl in particular told me a story in which her daddy’s new girlfriend came to her father’s house and was sent to jail for trying to stab her mother. Though many details are spared, I think the point is made; many children in poverty do not feel safe at home. Every child in the nation should be granted the ability to feel safe at school; if nothing else, it will encourage them to want to attend.
How do we fix this problem? In my eyes, the biggest hurdle to jump in the face of the nation’s problem is denial. Just as Kozol’s title insinuates, the nation’s schooling system is truly the nation’s shame. It is so shameful, in fact, that a large majority of the population is in total and complete denial that the schools are separated by race. Though many are willing to admit that
there is a class distinction, they are unwilling to confess that the classes are divided by race. A problem cannot be fixed until it is uncovered. Once highlighted through required in-depth teaching about segregation, I want the federal government to pass legislation demanding that the state equally divide tax dollars for education among the schools throughout the state. There will, of course, be disagreement about any rules regulating money; I have faith, however, that persistence and insistence will prove beneficial when the nation is filled with students of equal educational caliber. All students need to be taught that they can do anything, not just the white children. No student should be told “You’re ghetto so we send you to the factory…you’re ghetto- so you sew!” (180). Students should have teachers, schoolhouses, and lessons that tell them, “You are destined for whatever your hearts desires.” I realize that my hopes for the United States are hopeful and ideal, but then again, so should be the children of the nation.