Analysis Of Shame Of The Nation

Shame of the Nation by Jonathan Kozol was an interesting book that dealt with Kozols opinion on the condition of inner-city public schools from then to today. He talks about a serious reversal of the current pattern of intensifying segregation and desegregation. Kozol provides examples of how and when this is occurring and how he feels about it. He talks to kid, principals, parents, and some community members to help back-up his main point.

Kozols believes that segregation in our schools is dangerous.

Kozol found, “there was a high level of political sophistication among those in leadership positions in the black community; and, those in the course of framing goals and analyzing structures, they recognized the multitude of different forces

The conversation between her and Kozol on pager 15 was really sad. Pineapple was a good student and one day she randomly asked what it was like where Kozol lived. She didn’t want to be rude and say where the white people live but she didn’t have to. Here he found out that the students at that school don’t get much interaction with white people, except for school faculty. When Kozol would take them out to Manhattan for their birthdays some of the younger students would actually be scared because they were around white people and not used to it because growing up they never were; it’s odd for them. Kozol mentioned how different schools were named after various history leaders but that doesn’t mean they are integrated. He even talks about how the word “confidence” is chanted throughout the day. The reason behind it is this, “They tell us we are in a world where hope must be constructed therapeutically because so much of it has been destroyed by the conditions of internment in which we have placed these children” (37). This is so sad that students don’t know that there is another race of their own and that they have to be convinced that they can learn. It’s not right and does not set well for the future.

The price of education has a huge effect on younger

The student is talking about clean bathrooms and even a park. Young students will be so honest and it breaks my heart that they have to worry about a clean bathroom and a park over their education. He then receives letters from a bunch of third graders saying that they don’t have gardens, music, art, or even a fun place to play. For younger students a place to play is important because they are busy little bees and they need to get out and rome. He then mentions, “During the 1990s, physical conditions in some buildings had become so dangerous that a principal at one Bronx school…was forced to order that the building’s windows not be cleaned because the frames were rotted and glass panes were falling in the street, while at another school the principal had to have the windows bolted shut for the same reason” (43). This for one is not healthy for the students. One important thing about the children’s learning is having a safe environment. This is not safe because for one the building is falling apart and two they are around a rotting building, which doesn’t go well health wise. Kozol brings up the question of how do third graders know about what is fair and not fair. Roughly in New York it cost about $8,000 for a third grader to go to school in a New York City public school. Private schools on the other hand were funded by the wealthy people through taxes so there was