Death at an Early Age
by Jonathan Kozol
published
October 1st 1985
by Plume
edit
binding
Paperback, 272 pages
isbn
0452262925
(isbn13: 9780452262928)
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other reviews (showing 1-20 of 237)
Read in January, 1970
recommends it for:
everyone
I read this book when it first came out. I was appalled by the conditions he described in the Boston public school in which he taught, but not surprised, The poor children have always been denied decent funding for education. In a state of the State address to the Georgia legislature, then-governor Roy Barnes described the Hope Scholarship program as, "my anti-crime bill." Too bad more politicians don't speak out on the close knit connections between poverty, second-class education...more
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Read in November, 2008
a very outrageous account of a teacher in a segregation school in Boston in the 60's. If you hear on tv that the crime rate among African Americans is very high and you are angry about it, READ THIS BOOK. there are certain things you should be much angrier about.
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Read in June, 2005
recommends it for:
educators, white people, anyone who didn't have to go to an innercity school
The name really speaks for itself in this book, and it refers to the awful, degrading education that black elementary schoolers were given in an inner city school where Kozol was a long-term sub. What I saw in Kozol then was an early antiracist who asked tough questions about his role in the system, which none of his fellow teachers seemed willing to do. The conditions underwhich the students are taught are terrible, and the lessons they are told about themselves similarly destructive.
I ...more
I ...more
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Disturbing in that when people read this they'll think "Oh, but that was in the 60s. This stuff doesn't happen in schools anymore." I identified so many similarities between the school Kozol describes and the school district in which I teach. Huge disparities and hugely depressing, but important for people to read. (Though honestly I'll have to wait to read any more by him until this summer when the promise of the coming school year helps negate his sobering observations.)
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Read in February, 2000
recommends it for:
activists
I read this when I was pretty depressed about the nature of society. This, along with pedagogy of the oppressed, made me think that any kind of progressive movement must be bottom up. It must be support by the people it is "helping."
Kozol's description of the little girl eating lead paint chips also made me cringed. I remember waking up in my dorm room 3am, pacing around the halls of my residence, wondering about what kind of world I lived in.
Kozol's description of the little girl eating lead paint chips also made me cringed. I remember waking up in my dorm room 3am, pacing around the halls of my residence, wondering about what kind of world I lived in.
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Read in March, 2008
LOVED THIS BOOK. Kozol's account of his first few years as a teacher in an underfunded school in Boston. This book made me cry on the train because the scenes Kozol described (kids being dehumanized, ignored, abused, by the people who were supposed to love and care for them and help them succeed) felt so real and so unjust. Highly recommended for teachers and Bostonians.
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Read in January, 1984
This book truly changed my life, my understanding of fairness and equity and my belief that children are looked after.Kozol documents his experience in the Boston public schools. I was a naive & hopeful freshman in high school and Kozol rocked my world. A must read.
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Has a copy to sell/swap
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Read in July, 2008
recommends it for:
agents of change
jonathan kozol is definitely one of my heroes. this book was about inadequacies in the inner city boston schools in the 60's. the sad part is that not much has changed since then. inner city schools still suffer through the same problems. everyone should read this book.
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I first read this book when I was a beginning teacher. The book relates Kozel's experience teaching in the Roxbury section of Boston. The circumstances are unimaginable for this wealthy country, but he told the truth as he lived it and taught within it.
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Read in January, 2001
recommends it for:
students, teachers
What Kozol does best, here and in subsequent books on education, is feel out solutions to the problems he brings to light. It's devastating that our education system is still under fire, with students still struggling for equal access to quality education.
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Read in February, 1996
i loved this book, couldnt stop till i finished, i had no idea how bad the public school systems were in Boston at the time, especialy with the black community. it's enlightning to know some of this history
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Read in January, 1997
Like all the Jonathan Kozol books I've read, Death at An Early Age changed my life at a certain point, though later I began to critique his approach...
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