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Title: Savage Inequalities: Children in America's Schools by Jonathan Kozol ISBN: 0-06-097499-0 Publisher: Perennial Pub. Date: 03 August, 1992 Format: Paperback Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $14.00 |
Average Customer Rating: 4.27 (89 reviews)
Rating: 5
Summary: Poignant Observations
Comment: Education is often a political football, being tossed around from one administration to the next as a bargaining chip with very little constructive reform actually coming about. The trouble the chronology of the students' academic life doesn't change while presidential and congressional administrations do. Jonathan Kozol set out to chronicle and put into words the sights and persons he witnessed and observed in six major school districts. His observations are so shocking and heart wrenching that they must instill in every reader a sense of disgust and despair and evoke poignant and intense questions such as "Does that actually happen in America?;" "How did things get so bad;" or "What can we do to fix this." Kozol is the proper observer; he tries as often as he can not to directly interfere and change the outcome of his observations. Reading this book will make each reader wonder what kind of divine providence kept him from becoming more involved more often.
Every person who is contemplating a career somewhere in the field of education needs to read this book at least once. The most idealistic people who have the highest and loftiest ambitions and a true burning desire to help children in need will want to read this graphic account of poverty and its correlation to education. Once they wipe away the tears, those potential educators will have a strengthened resolve. Perhaps their actions will enable Kozol to write a new work someday in the future chronicling the uplifting of children and schools.
Rating: 3
Summary: Nobly written, but with illogical solutions. Biased.
Comment: With any work of journalistic nonfiction, the reader must always remain skeptical of the author's agenda, however noble his argument might seem. An attempt must be made to read the book thoroughly, especially when the author laces his facts with his own theories and philosophical conclusions. Most importantly, however, the reader must be highly aware and must recognize clearly the rhetorical ability of the author, particularly if that author happens to be an experienced journalist, like our friend Jonathan Kozol.
Upon finishing Savage Inequalities, I was thoroughly depressed by the information that had been given to me. The hazardous learning environments represented in his analysis came as a complete shock and I found myself continually disgusted with the level of civility offered to these young children. I must admit, I was hooked for a while, completely involved in Kozol's argument and grossly interested in his methodology for explanation. But, I soon caught myself. His rhetorical use of dry, hyper-simplistic language and the overly repetitious nature of his argument brought about flashing caution signs in my mind. Where this technique of factual argumentation will often work with the poorly educated reader, the captivated social enthusiast, or the eager Kozol fan, it wasn't working for me. And when those yellow flags popped up, I knew there was something fishy with his use of language and repetition. Close inspection of the writing suggests he might be trying to focus the attention of the reader in a direction favorable to his thesis. In situations like these, I am quick to follow up on his information and on the other areas of the controversy that the author may have failed to mention.
All of this is not to say that I didn't like the book or that I thought the author is corrupted with personal bias. In fact, I believe his quest for an educationally stable America to be incredibly courageous and exhibits high moral character. However, I am afraid that he and I disagree on the solution to the problem, and I am a little wary that his conviction in that solution may have influenced the scope of the information offered to the reader. He does a good job of laying down the facts, but I feel he stresses the negatives while ignoring the positives. Also, I got the feeling that he was slanting the representation of the facts in order to hypothesize social motivations, such as environmental racism (as depicted in the beginning), with which I completely disagree.
It is MUCH more complicated than merely throwing money at the public schools. The seeds of this malfunction lay deep within human nature and in the cultural and social motivations of the nation. While some corrupt "rich, white folks" may, indeed, use their money to manipulate the media, cultural environment, etcetera, and thereby influence the motivations and aspirations of the lower classes, it is an unrealistic explanation for educational/intellectual inequalities. There will always be a few bad eggs (as Kozol repeatedly likes to show us), but their influence has little quantitative effect on the mass population of poor people.
Domestic motivation will spur the momentum needed for the social/economic revolution Kozol desires. The decision for social submission has not been made for the lower class, but is made within the parents of the next generation.
Rating: 5
Summary: Enlightening
Comment: I'm a freshman in college and was completely unaware to the extent of the hellish conditions in these urban schools. This book is truly engrossing and should be read with tissues. You can not put it down, but that is not the only reason to read it. It is everyone's duty who lives in the US (and those who don't) to read this text, as well as his other works. It should be in every home. It expresses the selfishness of the world that we live in and exposes how cruel and ignorant we can be. This book should encourage us to help the poor children trapped in these schools and take true action. Thank you, Mr. Kozol, for your incredible honesty.
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Title: Amazing Grace : Lives of Children and the Conscience of a Nation, The by Jonathan Kozol ISBN: 0060976977 Publisher: Perennial Pub. Date: 06 November, 1996 List Price(USD): $14.00 |
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Title: Other People's Children: Cultural Conflict in the Classroom by Lisa D. Delpit ISBN: 1565841808 Publisher: New Press Pub. Date: February, 1996 List Price(USD): $15.95 |
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Title: Death at an Early Age: The Destruction of the Hearts and Minds of Negro Children in the Boston Public Schools by Jonathan Kozol ISBN: 0452262925 Publisher: New American Library Pub. Date: June, 1990 List Price(USD): $13.95 |
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Title: Nickel and Dimed: On (Not) Getting By in America by Barbara Ehrenreich ISBN: 0805063897 Publisher: Owl Books Pub. Date: 01 May, 2002 List Price(USD): $13.00 |
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Title: Ordinary Resurrections: Children in the Years of Hope by Jonathan Kozol ISBN: 0060956453 Publisher: Perennial Pub. Date: 20 February, 2001 List Price(USD): $14.00 |
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