145th out of 548 books
—
382 voters
Death at an Early Age
In this National Book Award-winning book, Kozol unflinchingly exposes the disturbing "destruction of hearts and minds in the Boston public school." A new Epilogue assesses the last 20 years of the educational system.
Paperback, 272 pages
Published
October 1st 1985
by Plume
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The book I read was "Death At An Early Age" by Jonathon Kozol. It was about a teacher who moved into the Boston Public School System in 1964. The purpose of this book was to show how schools differed from today. The book made me realize how the school system was at that time and many things which happened there would not be tolerated today. The teachers could do anything they wanted to without consequences.
I believe the theme of the book is to appreciate what we have and not take things for gran...more
I believe the theme of the book is to appreciate what we have and not take things for gran...more
May 16, 2012
John
added it
This is an autobiographical indictment of the Public School System in the Boston, Mass. area by Jonathan Kozol from his personal experience until his discharge from Teaching in 1965. It is stunning. This book is simultaneously tragic and sweet, frighteningly horrible and delightful. It offers the reader a view into the halls and classrooms and even the Teacher's lounge in a School that was supposed to be educating Black students in a manner befitting any other student, revealing terrible inequit...more
I read this book as part of my teacher-training curriculum when pursuing my bachelor's degree in education. It relates the story of a young teacher's first year in the educational system in the late 60s in the inner-city schools of Boston, and as such it focuses a great deal on racial discrimination, bigotry from teachers, administrators, and politicians, and the recalcitrance with which the same individuals rebelled against desegregation.
The book details the horrific conditions that poor black...more
The book details the horrific conditions that poor black...more
Death At an Early Age was a hard book to finish, but even harder to put down.
Substitute teacher Jonathan Kozol left his mark on literature by publishing this, his memoir of a year in Boston Public Schools. I'd never even heard of it until I sought out the African American lit section of a local bookstore. So I picked it up at a whim, thinking it would offer some novel insight into my own profession and the Civil Rights era.
I came to find Death At an Early Age to be more alarming than enlightenin...more
Substitute teacher Jonathan Kozol left his mark on literature by publishing this, his memoir of a year in Boston Public Schools. I'd never even heard of it until I sought out the African American lit section of a local bookstore. So I picked it up at a whim, thinking it would offer some novel insight into my own profession and the Civil Rights era.
I came to find Death At an Early Age to be more alarming than enlightenin...more
Few books I've read were this shocking, angering and horrifying. Kozol paints a bleak and tragic portrait of a segregated Boston public school in the mid '60s. It's easy to approach this sort of material with a "that was a long time ago, things have changed" attitude. In this case, simply put, not much has changed. The Harvard Civil Rights Project has stated that the United States is twelve years into a process of resegregation. The inner city schools today are still, in many ways, perpetuating...more
Winner of the National Book Award in 1967, Jonathan Kozol’s Death at an Early Age: The Destruction of the Hearts and Minds of Negro Children in the Boston Public Schools is the story of a new teacher recruited to finish the year with a group of African-American students. It does not compare much to Boston Public, the FOX television drama created by David E. Kelley (2000-2004).
The first word of the first chapter is “Stephen,” the name of one of Kozol’s students, and roughly the first half of the...more
The first word of the first chapter is “Stephen,” the name of one of Kozol’s students, and roughly the first half of the...more
I first read this book soon after it was published, when I was a second year teacher at a public junior high school in Vallejo, CA, that had about 10% black students. I had done my intern teaching at Berkeley (CA) High School during the volatile summer of 1967, to a mixed class, about half black, half white, and mixed from the 10 stage tracking system from track 1 (one step below honors) to mentally retarded (as it was then called). This book was an eye-opener and guide in my struggles to learn...more
Although the writing was repetitive at times, this was a story that had to be told. Kozol pulls no punches about de facto segregation in the Boston Public Schools before the era of busing. Honestly, while conditions in the schools are better today, some of his words could easily be applied to students currently attending weaker schools in the system.
I wrote down a favorite quotation: "The slowness of change is always respectable and reasonable in the eyes of the ones who are only watching; it i...more
I wrote down a favorite quotation: "The slowness of change is always respectable and reasonable in the eyes of the ones who are only watching; it i...more
A depressing true story of the absolute decrepitude of the Boston school System in 1965, where black students were warehoused in condemnable buildings with no materials, no learning, hostile racist teachers, and no hope for the future, where their entire psyches were destroyed before they ever had a chance, preordained to fail by the system. Intolerable. If I want to go out and riot after reading it, I cannot imagine how awful it was to live it.
Jun 03, 2008
Maureen
rated it
5 of 5 stars
Recommends it for:
everyone
Shelves:
education,
anthropology-sociology
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, and crime. K...more
Jun 25, 2007
Falcon
rated it
4 of 5 stars
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 never r...more
I never r...more
This is an unimaginably bleak depiction of inner city public schools in Boston in the mid 60's. The most frightening thing to me is the way his depictions of his colleague's superficially progressive, open-minded self-presentations mask overt but un-accknowledged bigotry feels really familiar living in Boston today.
His 1985 post-script reveals a still bleak portrait of Boston public schools. In the 60's, schools were de facto segregated by income; if you lived in a poor black neighborhood, you w...more
His 1985 post-script reveals a still bleak portrait of Boston public schools. In the 60's, schools were de facto segregated by income; if you lived in a poor black neighborhood, you w...more
Jan 14, 2010
Carrie Pirmann
added it
education
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.)
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.
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.
Sep 04, 2007
Sandra
added it
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.
Jul 23, 2007
Corinne
rated it
5 of 5 stars
Recommends it for:
students, teachers
Shelves:
racialjustice,
economic-justice
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.
Jul 08, 2009
Kate
rated it
3 of 5 stars
Recommends it for:
the disenfranchised
Recommended to Kate by:
370.1934 K
Shelves:
education
"Mr. Kozol, or anyone else who lacks the personal discipline to abide by rules and regulations, as we all must in our civilized society, is obviously unsuited for the highly responsible profession of teaching."
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Jonathan Kozol is a non-fiction writer, educator, and activist best known for his work towards reforming American public schools. Upon graduating from Harvard, he received a Rhodes scholarship. After returning to the United States, Kozol became a teacher in the Boston Public Schools, until he was fired for teaching a Langston Hughes poem. Kozol has held two Guggenheim Fellowships, has twice been a...more
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Dec 23, 2011 09:19am