Kozol, Chapter 9 & 10

The following quotes come from The Shame of the Nation (2005) by Jonathan Kozol.

“America has never made progress on racial issues unless there was enough agitation to force society to take action.” (Kozol, 216)

      Though I did not think about this until now, it does seem understandable.  The biggest issue I can think of in American History is the Civil War.  There was heavy debate on this topic and it even split the country at one point.

      There are issues with segregation in schools and the action being taken is generally local.  Bigger racial issues will tend reach more people.

“White had spoken also of the price that we as a society might have to pay for a new round of turmoil to revitalize the struggle[.]” (Kozol, 226)

      If we were to try to attack segregation in schools there would be a lot of uproar.  There are so many people that like the system(s) as is that they will not want to allow for much change.  The entire issue would involve a great deal of people at one time and many of these people have issues they are already dealing with.

“Public policy has largely turned its back upon the aspirations represented by these instances of school desegregation.” (Kozol, 228)

      This kind of belongs with the quote above.  Those trying to reduce segregation are trying slowly, but there is a decline in the number of people trying to do so.  Additionally, many people can foresee the outcome (also as listed above) and just do not want to deal with it.

“[‘]In an increasingly diverse society and an increasingly connected world, it is more important than it ever was.’” (Kozol, 238)

      Prior to this statement Kozol quoted “‘that integrated education creates better citizens for a democracy.’”  Democracy allows for many people to get a say… this should not be divided due to race and segregation.  Having everyone educated allows for wise and proper decisions to be made.

      If not everyone was educated, but still everyone got a say in the democracy, there would be more issues because the ‘uneducated’ are making ‘uneducated’ decisions.

“On Justice Powell’s observation that some experts questioned the connection between spending and the quality of education…” (Kozol, 244)

      In many cases this seems to be true, the more money equals the more opportunities available to the students.  Money is typically a big factor, but we must also account for the students’ interest and willingness to participate.  A teacher could have absolutely no money and supplies but could have a very successful class provided the students want to be there!

“If the federal government can hold a district or a state ‘accountable’ for demonstrating high performance by its students on their standardized exams, according to the reasoning of Mr. Fattah, the federal government should also have the power to hold states accountable for making sure that children in all district~ are provided with the resources they need to meet these high demands.” (Kozol, 249)

      Yes… it would be great for the federal government to support the schools that are fulfilling the requirements (as set by the federal government).  As it appears now, the schools have to pay to keep the test scores up.  If the federal government offered an incentive program as listed, there may be more schools achieving the standards.