J-Lynn's review of The Shame of the Nation: The Restoration of Apartheid Schooling in America
The Shame of the Nation: The Restoration of Apartheid Schooling in America by Jonathan Kozol
Kozol is a powerhouse when it comes to advocating for equity in public education. I remember, while a junior in college, reading Savage Inequalities, his searing indictment of the condition of schools and education in impoverished communities, and feeling reaffirmed in my desire to teach in underprivileged neighborhoods.
Now, as I enter my 8th year of teaching, I find The Shame of the Nation just as powerful. Kozol’s frank writing style that combines statistics and hard facts with observations and testimonies, leads the reader to become infuriated by the state of schooling in America. The book tends to be cyclical, revisiting discussions from previous chapters with new arguments, allowing Kozol to channel that anger into a discussion of how American has historically dealt with race and class. This establishes the background knowledge needed to understand the current resegregation of American schools or as Kozol and others call it, the restoration of apartheid schooling in Amer...more
Now, as I enter my 8th year of teaching, I find The Shame of the Nation just as powerful. Kozol’s frank writing style that combines statistics and hard facts with observations and testimonies, leads the reader to become infuriated by the state of schooling in America. The book tends to be cyclical, revisiting discussions from previous chapters with new arguments, allowing Kozol to channel that anger into a discussion of how American has historically dealt with race and class. This establishes the background knowledge needed to understand the current resegregation of American schools or as Kozol and others call it, the restoration of apartheid schooling in Amer...more
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