Chapters 8 & 12 Countdown

Chapter 8 & 12

5 Sentences on the Big Picture

In Chapter 8, Kozol talks about the government programs over the past few decades to improve the education system of America. Most of these programs were designed to make huge strides in the education world, but in reality, most of these programs have failed to make any lasting changes. Kozol also highlights political leaders, and how many of their programs are the same as a decade ago, but the end date for their goal to be reached is pushed back further by a multiple years. Kozol also claims that too many inner city schools emphasize careers after high school, rather than trying to get students to reach for higher education. In Chapter 12, Kozol emphasizes the role of the teacher, their love for children, and how that should never be disregarded by people who think they know more about education than the employees who work in schools.

4 Key Passages

“Too much is expected of them when they come; too little is accorded to them when they leave.” (p. 198)

“Some of our most segregated urban neighborhoods lie just adjacent to well-funded districts serving middle-class communities. Less than a fifteen-minute bus ride often separates our wealthiest and poorest schooling systems.” (p, 204).

“But if the past may be relied upon to make predictions fro the future, we may sensibly expect that much of what is promised in the present set of goals, no matter how they dominate the national attention at the present time, will be retracted, or amended, or diluted, or else more or less forgotten long before that very distant date arrives. The testing protocols, unhappily, may be the only part of this that actually survives.” (p. 205-206)

“Teachers and principals should not permit the beautiful profession they have chosen to be redefined by those who know far less than they about the hearts of children.” (p. 299)

3 Key Terms

Program – a term used to describe government efforts to improve the education system in America that most often fail

Accountability – Kozol talks about the government not being held accountable for following through with their education programs. It is also mentioned with schools being held accountable to give true records to the government about test scores, and drop out rates.

Improvements – Kozol speaks about all the programs that are supposed to reap benefits to underprivileged children’s educations, but these benefits are often short lived.

2 Connections

Kozol mentions money being a key area that affects the achievement gap in schools. I am taking American Educational Thought, and we were talking about the causes of the achievement gap the other day. Our teacher mentioned that studies have been done, and that the main factors to lessen the gap are having a stable family, and religion, not money. The problem with these two factors is that they are difficult to change, because you cannot choose your family, and most people are the same religion as their family members.

Kozol also talks about the government rewarding schools with financial aid when they score well on standardized exams. Many of the schools in the book ended up lying in order to get the financial benefits the government offered. I went to a school where the standardized tests were not made a huge deal because my school always scored relatively well. Maybe students would do better if they were not told that the test was the only measure of their success for the year, and this would make the entire experience less stressful to them. I know I would have been much more afraid of the standardized tests every year if I knew that would be the only way a teacher would judge whether I was smart , and so if the teachers emphasize the tests less, then maybe the students will do better because they will not worry about the tests so much.

1 Question

If all of the government programs have ultimately reaped few benefits in education, then what needs to be done to bring a lasting change to the school systems?

What's Working and What's Not Working in Education Today

I am not a fan of standardized testing. Although it may keep students accountable for what they learn, I do not like how teachers have to revolve their curriculum around one test. This makes the teachers stress out if they are in a inner city school, because their job depends on how well their students do on the standardized test. I don't necessarily think standardized testing should be dropped completely, but I think it could be changed to where it is not the only important thing a child should do the whole school year. I think something good about education is that people are starting to notice that so many inner city schools need help in many ways. If awareness can be spread, instead of poorer schools being avoided, then some changes could be made to help these schools become better in the future.

Countdown Shame of the Nations Chapters 1-6

Shame of the Nations Chapters 1-6 Countdown

5 Sentences on the Big Picture

Kozol mainly talks about the inequality of urban schools in America, and how race is a huge issue in what type of education a child will receive. Kozol shows how the poor schools are suffering drastically by there extremely low graduation rates and test scores. I understand that when a school is doing poorly that the government may need to intervene, but some of their curriculum are lacking, like SFA. I agree with Kozol that students should be shown the opportunities they have, because in the school where they taught their kids to want to grow up to be managers, the kids knew nothing other than what they were taught, so they should be told that they do have choices. Some changes obviously need to be made in the public school system, so that all students have a fair chance at going to a good school.

4 Key Passages

“It’s as if you have been put in a garage where, if they don’t have room for something but aren’t sure if they should throw it out, they put it there where they don’t need to think of it again.”(page 28)

Black school officials in these situations have sometimes conveyed to me a bitter and clear-sighted recognition that they’re being asked, essentially, to mediate and render functional and uncontested separation between of their race and children of white people living sometimes in a distant section of their town and sometimes in almost their own immediate communities. Implicit in this mediation is a willingness to set aside the promises of Brown and, perhaps while never stating this or even thinking clearly in these terms, to settle for the promise made more than a century ago in Plessy v. Ferguson, the 1896 Supreme Court ruling in which “separate but equal” was accepted as a tolerable rationale for the perpetuation of a dual system in American society.” (page 34)

“When minority parents ask for something better for their kids, she says, the assumption is that these are parents who can be discounted . These are kids that we don’t value.” (page 43)

“Whatever the rationale for all of this, it opens up no doors to understanding. Although the principals in these schools are constantly reminded to hold out high expectations for low-income children, I thought the expectations here were very low. I thought the intellects of children were debased when they were asked to parrot language they did not understand and weren’t invited to explore and figure out.” (page 84)

“Even in good suburban schools where scores are generally high, I don’t know how many principals and teachers believe that the repeated measuring of children’s skills by standardized exams has a positive effect upon the processes of education; I know many more who feel it has the opposite result.” (page 110)

3 Key Terms

Apartheid – Kozol talks about the segregation in schools based on race

Equality – the lack of equality in schools across America is discussed by Kozol.

Racial – a term used to describe how many schools feel negatively about other races

2 Connections

When Kozol talks about the schools where they are supposed to be silent for most of the day, this reminded me of a class I took last semester on early literacy. One of the most important things for a child to do when developing their literacy skills, is to talk all the time. Another important factor to their development is having other people talk to them, and they lose many opportunities to hear new words when they are not allowed to talk with their neighbors.

I can also relate to Kozol’s thoughts on standardized testing not being helpful in the education process. I went to a school where the majority of students scored well, and so the teachers did not have to stress the test throughout the year. Even though I did well, I do not think that test benefitted my education. Knowing that information for the standardized tests, showed very little of what I learned from the entire year.

1 Question

Kozol does not completely agree with standardized testing, but would schools be any better off without these tests?