Hipp, Sally

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ColleaguesVolume 2Issue 2 Race & Poverty in Education Article 64-8-2011The Shame of the NationSally HippFollow this and additional works at: http://scholarworks.gvsu.edu/colleaguesThis Article is brought to you for free and open access by ScholarWorks@GVSU. It has been accepted for inclusion in Colleagues by an authorizedadministrator of ScholarWorks@GVSU. For more information, please contact scholarworks@gvsu.edu.Recommended CitationHipp, Sally (2007) "The Shame of the Nation," Colleagues: Vol. 2: Iss. 2, Article 6.Available at: http://scholarworks.gvsu.edu/colleagues/vol2/iss2/6COLLEAGUES 5Comments by Sally HippHow was your day at school today?”This is a question that many of usask our children each day.  JonathanKozol author of The Shame of The Nation main-tains that the answers to this question willvary greatly depending on your child’s race.Kozol writes that schools today are moreracially segregated then the schools were in1954 when Brown vs. The Board of Educationwas passed.  In this landmark decision, “sepa-rate but equal education” as interpreted bythe US Supreme Court in Plessy vs. Ferguson in1896 was declared unconstitutional.  As aresult of this decision, massive busing tookplace whereby children from all areas werebused to different schools so that the racialmixture more reflected that of society.  Busingwas difficult and expensive and it took severalyears for students to feel safe in their newschools. For a short while, students of differ-ent colors and different races went to schooltogether; however, segregated schools beganto form again as the busing solution wasviewed as ineffective.  Whom one goes to school with, matters, saysKozol.  If black and Hispanic children only goto school with black and Hispanic children,they will never learn how to access whitesociety.  Brown vs. The Board of Education seeksto ensure that students of color have access tothis society through education.  Where has theenergy of implementing Brown vs. The Board ofEducation gone?  I found myself angered againwhen I read Kozol’s book; angry like I was inthe 1960s when I decided to work in urbaneducation. It is sad to see that progress towardintegration of our schools has actually gonebackward in the last several decades.No Child Left Behind (NCLB) is our currentadministration’s answer to the existingachievement gap between whites andstudents of color in schools today; however, itdoes nothing to address the realities ofsegregation and its negative effects.  Instead, itseems to exacerbate the differences betweenquality of education received by children ofcolor compared to their peers who attendpredominately white schools.  As a result ofthe pressures from NCLB, poorer urbanschools have used approaches to learning thattake away much of the joy that many of usexperienced in our elementary school days.Kozol describes schools he visited where thereis no more recess, where children haveabsolute quiet in the lunchroom — no talking,where the students in these schools marchdown the hall in a very military like fashion,and where the majority of the school day isspent preparing to take the state exams.  Kozol observed that programs like “Successfor All” are being used throughout manyschool systems that he visited.  In theseprograms the time spent teaching certainsubjects is programmed to the minute and theteacher says only the words in the programmanual.  Teachers, who have been successfulin the past using their creative methods ofengaging children in learning, are no longerallowed to use those methods. Art, music andphysical education have also become a thingof the past in many of our urban schools.Money for those additions to the basiccurriculum has been cut.  Is it any wonderthat our black and Hispanic youth aredropping out in record numbers?Kozol notes that students do not receiveequal access to quality education in thiscountry.  It is important to note that Kozoldoes not fault the teachers.  He calls theteachers and the principals in urban schoolssome of the “unsung heroes” of our day.They work in crowded classrooms with fewersupplies and little support from thecommunities.  They are often paid less andwork harder.  They work in older buildingswhere overcrowding is the norm.  Kozollooked at schools in New York City and LosAngeles extensively and found conditions inTHE SHAME OF THE NATION“44437GVSU  7/16/07  9:36 AM  Page 51Hipp: The Shame of the NationProduced by The Berkeley Electronic Press, 2007COLLEAGUES6BO O K RE V I E W SCompiled by Susan Mendoza-JonesThe Shame of the Nation: The Restoration ofApartheid Schooling in America by Jonathan Kozol, from Publishers WeeklyPublic school resegregation is a “national horrorhidden in plain view,” writes former educator turnedpublic education activist Kozol (Savage Inequalities,Amazing Grace). Kozol visited 60 schools in 11 states overa five-year period and finds, despite the promise ofBrown vs. Board of Education, many schools serving Blackand Hispanic children are spiraling backward to the pre-Brown era. These schools lack the basics: cleanclassrooms, hallways and restrooms; up-to-date books ingood condition; and appropriate laboratory supplies.Teachers and administrators eschew creative courseworkfor rote learning to meet testing and accountabilitymandates, thereby “embracing a pedagogy of directcommand and absolute control” usually found in “penalinstitutions and drug rehabilitation programs.” As always, Kozol presents sharp andpoignant portraits of the indignities vulnerable individuals endure. “You have all thethings and we do not have all the things,” one eight-year-old Bronx boy wrote the author.In another revealing exchange, a cynical high school student tells his classmate, a youngwoman with college ambitions who was forced into hair braiding and sewing classes,“You’re ghetto-so you sew.” Kozol discovers widespread acceptance for the notion that“schools in ghettoized communities must settle for a different set of academic and careergoals” than schools serving middle- and upper-class children. Kozol tempers this gloomwith hopeful interactions between energetic teachers and receptive children in schoolswhere all is not lost. But these “treasured places” do not hide the fact, Kozol argues, thatschool segregation is still the rule for poor minorities, or that Kozol, and the like-mindedpoliticians, educators and advocates he seeks out, believe a new civil rights movement willbe necessary to eradicate it. Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rightsreserved.Amazing Grace: The Lives of Children and the Conscience of a Nationby Jonathan Kozol, from Library JournalAlicea and Kozol paint a vivid portrait of life in one of America’s most impoverishedneighborhoods, New York City’s South Bronx. While telling similar stories, each narrativehas its own unique flavor and characteristics that reveal the crushing nature of poverty inAmerica and recount the lives of those who rise above it. Kozol (Savage Inequalities, LJ9/15/91) describes a neighborhood ravaged by drugs, violence, hunger, AIDS, andantipathy, but also one where children defy all the stereotypes. In the South Bronx, wherethe median income is $7,600 a year and everything breaks down, Kozol reveals that the onething that has remained resilient is the children. One of the resident children is 15 year-oldAlicea, who saw her mother and sister succumb to AIDS, a father incarcerated in prison,and friends entrapped by drugs or violence. Like that of many children, her story is a life ofoptions or despair. The path they pursue is dependent on government leadership. Bothbooks should be required reading for policymakers and those concerned with the plight ofthe American poor. Michael A. Lutes, University. of Notre Dame Lib., Ind.© Copyright 1995 Reed Business Information, Inc.Makes Me Wanna Holler: A Young Black Man in America by Nathan McCall, from School Library JournalAn autobiography that captures the pain, anger, and fierce determination of a blackjournalist writing today for the Washington Post. McCall’s open and honest description ofhis life as a boy in a Black neighborhood in Portsmouth, VA, his participation in violentcriminal acts, and his eventual imprisonment for armed robbery seem somehow to be anexpression of the rage of so many young people in America’s urban areas. Whileimprisoned, he worked as an inmate librarian and was so moved by Richard Wright’sbooks that he became fascinated by the power of words and decided to become a writer.Though he has made a successful career against great odds, he makes it plain that hedoes not feel completely at ease with his peers in the establishment or those on thestreets. His difficult story is told in such an immediate and compelling fashion thatyoung people will be caught up in this strong narrative and gain real insight intomany of these schools deplorable.  Kozol, a Harvard graduate and RhodesScholar, has been working with urban kids forover 40 years. His previous work has beenhighly acclaimed in the field of educationincluding Death at an Early Age and SavageInequalities.  In The Shame of The Nation, Kozol’sconclusions are based on a study conducted inover in 30 school districts located in 11 differentstates.  Kozol offers statistics that underscorewhat we, who work in the schools, alreadyknow—that we as a nation have abandoned Dr.Martin Luther King’s dream along with the lawsof this land. Kozol’s use of data underscores his pointsthroughout the book.  Take for instance thefollowing excerpt:“In 48 percent of high schools in the nations100 largest districts, which are those in which thehighest concentrations of Black and Hispanicstudents are enrolled, less than half the enteringninth graders graduate in four years.Nationwide from 1993 - 2002, the number of highschools graduating less than half their ninthgrade class in four years has increased by 75%...“Statewide in the 94% of districts in New Yorkwhere white children make up the majority,nearly 80% of students graduate from highschool in four years.”Kozol adds that the reason for these statisticsthat account for low graduations rates of blackand Hispanic children is that students in highschools are the products of apartheid educationthat results from our return to segregatedschools.  Kozol writes with such compassion for theunderserved in our educational system.  Iapplaud him for continuing the fight for equalityin our schools.  Kozol wants us to know what isreally going on in urban schools, and perhaps byknowing , to help rectify the situation.  Kozolhimself offers no solutions to the problem in thisbook.  In one chapter he asks inner city teacherswhat they think should be done.  One teachersaid that teachers need to march in the streets tocall attention to the problem.  Another said wehave to “speak the word racism clearly.” Our prisons are filled with people of color —many of whom did not graduate from highschool and have trouble with reading and basicmathematics.  Money will help, but it is not thetotal answer.  We thought busing would fix theproblem.  Thanks to Dr. Kozol, we are keenlyaware that the problem is not fixed.  Perhaps Dr.Kozol sees his mission as one who uncovers andenlightens.  It is a call to action, to be sure, butwhat now?  Where do we go from here?  Kozoleffectively uncovers our shame, challenging usto summon the courage to take action.  Usingour collective experiences and wisdom, I amhopeful that we can turn our shame into positiveoutcomes for all students.  44437GVSU  7/16/07  9:36 AM  Page 62Colleagues, Vol. 2 [2007], Iss. 2, Art. 6http://scholarworks.gvsu.edu/colleagues/vol2/iss2/6

The Shame of the Nation

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