Jonathan Kozol has been a tireless advocate for civil rights in education for the past five decades. His book, Savage Inequalities, was a call to conscience for the nation. He will be among the speakers at the Save Our Schools March and Rally in Washington, DC, on Saturday, July 30th. I asked him to explain his reasons for marching this summer.
You published Savage Inequalities back in 1992. What has happened to the level of inequity in our schools in the two decades since then?
The inequalities are greater now than in '92. Some states have equalized per-pupil spending but they set the "equal level" very low, so that wealthy districts simply raise extra money privately. And, even within a single urban district, parents in rich neighborhoods cluster together at a single school, then hold fund-raisers for that school, using celebrities to pull out a wealthy crowd, and raise as much as half-a-million dollars in a single night. No one forces them to share this money with the schools for poor kids that might be just three blocks away. The
The most important human endeavor is the striving for morality in our actions. Our inner balance and even our very existence depend on it. Our morality in our actions can give beauty and dignity to life.
To make this a living force and bring it to clear consciousness is perhaps the foremost task of education.
– Albert Einstein1
While at university, I was once required to write an essay on personal ethics to guide an educator. Of course ethics entailed respect for the rights of all humans, but mere respect for rights is insufficient.
Each person must decide on which principles they hold and abide by them as much as possible.
1) Respect that others abide by different principles. Therefore, before rendering any decision, the reasons held by others for or against any action must be heard and considered.
2) Principles must be open to scrutiny. If a superior conception of a principle exists, then an inferior
Prisoners risking death by refusing food in the Pelican Bay supermax, and those hunger striking in solidarity in prisons around California are a judgment of our sickness. “The degree of civilization in a society,” said Dostoyevsky, “can be judged by entering its prisons.”
Civilization is something we no longer seem to aspire to. The United States locks up more people and a greater percentage of its people than anyone else. We lock them in training centers for anger and violence. We subject them to rape, assault, humiliation, and isolation. We throw the innocent in with the guilty, the young with the old, the nonviolent with the violent, the hopeful with those who’ve lost all interest in life.
And we routinely subject large numbers of prisoners to the torture of near-total isolation. We lock human beings in little boxes for 22 or 23 hours per day. When it’s done to an accused whistleblower like Bradley Manning, we protest. But what about when it’s done to thousands of people, many of them baselessly accused of being
Fred,
As an unapologetic “education reformer,” I’m enjoying watching this meltdown. Edelman is clearly guilty of a “Kinsey gaffe,” where someone in politics accidentally tells the truth.
Fact is, America’s education system is in shambles. With 50+ years of “reform” having been either written, or subverted, by the education bureaucracy, it is now clear that it is beyond “reform.” It must be dismantled.
Those of you here lament SB7 as some horrific attack on teachers, and I see it as a reform so tepid that it is union supported. You folks spout this as evidence that there is a conspiracy to dismantle education. I’m disappointed that these philanthropists aren’t being more aggressive, de-
Don’t buy the Tribune.
I’ll save you the trouble and reprint the headline.
Education reforms underfunded, Illinois schools chief warns.
State superintendent says budget cuts could hamper performance evaluations for principals, teachers.
Garrett “School systems, like businesses, must also look at the return on their investment,” wrote Georgia Power’s former CEO, Mike Garrett and UPS’ Evern Cooper Epps. “Any honest dialogue about salaries must be based on that principle.”
 United Teachers of Los Angeles president Warren Fletcher, left, listens as outgoing president A.J. Duffy, right, speaks about retiring teacher Jimmie Woods-Gray at the Los Angeles City Council meeting on June 24. (Bob Chamberlin / Los Angeles Times) |
Michelle Rhee isn't the least bit shy expressing her beliefs about what's wrong with modern public education.
Even if she has to embarrass her daughters a little to get her point across.
PHOTO BY NIKKI BOERTMAN
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State Sen. Mark Norris (left) and Floyd Hammer help package 20,000 meals for Mid-South families Sunday during a 90-minute challenge at the Southern Legislative Conference at The Peabody. The 65th annual meeting continues through Wednesday morning.
Rhee, the controversial former Washington, D.C., schools superintendent, spoke Sunday in Memphis to the education committee members of the Southern Legislative Conference.
The 65th annual meeting, which continues through Wednesday morning, was expected to bring as many as 2,000 legislators and staff members from 16 states. This year's chairman is state Sen. Mark Norris, R-Collierville.
In her 90-minute talk, Rhee said three things need to be
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