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The Shame of the Nation: The Restoration of Apartheid Schooling in America
by Jonathan Kozol
404 pages (hardcover)
Genre: Nonfiction/Education
Wow, was this a depressing book. I had originally planned to read Savage Inequalities first/as well, but Shame of the Nation is more recent and covers the same topic. Kozol spends a good few hundred pages lamenting the de facto resegregation of American schools; however, he proposes few realistic solutions. I don't believe that busing is the answer because it is unfair to those parents who sacrificed for a good neighborhood with strong nearby schools in a good school district, not to mention un-cost-effective administratively. True school choice is a partial solution, but priority should be given to students in the feeder zone, and if those students fill up the school to full capacity, that's only fair. I sympathize with both sides--my heart is slowly shredded for those poor inner-city kids, but I simultaneously understand why middle-class parents will not send their children to a high-minority school. In such schools, academic achievement is low, partially because segregation leads to lower achievement; so the school is unable to attract needed students to create diversity, and its reputation for low achievement is perpetuated. Racism is, of course, another inevitable factor, but not the only one. I still believe that socioeconomic affirmative action should replace racial AA. Yes, the majority of poor people are African-American or Latin@; and what about the poor Asian immigrants who get screwed over in college admissions, or the poor whites who receive little to no help because they were born into the majority race? Until the U.S. embraces socialism, I have empathy but little sympathy for poor (and often minority) students living in poor neighborhoods, wanting to attend well-funded schools that they haven't paid property taxes for or are entitled to attend based on proximity/school district. That's terrible and unfair, but that's also life in a capitalist society. Money rules. I personally think the American system of education needs to take a good, hard look at Canada for clues.
Recommended if you're not already in a downward spiral mood-wise, as Kozol's lack of feasible solutions makes this book informative but unrelenting in despair.
by Jonathan Kozol
404 pages (hardcover)
Genre: Nonfiction/Education
Wow, was this a depressing book. I had originally planned to read Savage Inequalities first/as well, but Shame of the Nation is more recent and covers the same topic. Kozol spends a good few hundred pages lamenting the de facto resegregation of American schools; however, he proposes few realistic solutions. I don't believe that busing is the answer because it is unfair to those parents who sacrificed for a good neighborhood with strong nearby schools in a good school district, not to mention un-cost-effective administratively. True school choice is a partial solution, but priority should be given to students in the feeder zone, and if those students fill up the school to full capacity, that's only fair. I sympathize with both sides--my heart is slowly shredded for those poor inner-city kids, but I simultaneously understand why middle-class parents will not send their children to a high-minority school. In such schools, academic achievement is low, partially because segregation leads to lower achievement; so the school is unable to attract needed students to create diversity, and its reputation for low achievement is perpetuated. Racism is, of course, another inevitable factor, but not the only one. I still believe that socioeconomic affirmative action should replace racial AA. Yes, the majority of poor people are African-American or Latin@; and what about the poor Asian immigrants who get screwed over in college admissions, or the poor whites who receive little to no help because they were born into the majority race? Until the U.S. embraces socialism, I have empathy but little sympathy for poor (and often minority) students living in poor neighborhoods, wanting to attend well-funded schools that they haven't paid property taxes for or are entitled to attend based on proximity/school district. That's terrible and unfair, but that's also life in a capitalist society. Money rules. I personally think the American system of education needs to take a good, hard look at Canada for clues.
Recommended if you're not already in a downward spiral mood-wise, as Kozol's lack of feasible solutions makes this book informative but unrelenting in despair.