by Jessica Cabrera, SUNY Cortland
Posted in on Friday, Nov 7
On September 9, 2008, Jonathan Kozol came to the SUNY Cortland campus as a guest lecturer. He was introduced by Gerald Porter, Dean of the School of Education, who told us a little about Kozol’s background. Kozol is a Harvard graduate who taught elementary school for a number of years before becoming an author. The main focus of most of Kozol’s work has been the ever-growing gap between the education of the rich and the education of the poor. Kozol has written many award-winning books including Rachel and Her Children, Savage Inequalities, Amazing Grace, and the Shame of the Nation, which is what he titled his lecture.
Jonathan Kozol is an amazing man with an unbelievable story that he was kind enough to share with us. He critiqued the school system, how issues of equal education must be addressed. He spoke for a little over an hour, but the time flew as he captivated his audience with his intensity and humor. He spoke of New York State public schools, which rank first in inequality and racial segregation, and his experiences in the South Bronx, which is the poorest congressional school district. However, throughout his lecture, nothing shocked us more than the statistics that he gave.
Only thirty percent of Black male students entering ninth grade make it to twelfth grade and graduate in four years. Due to standardized testing, many students are held back and dropout rates are rising drastically because of it. Holding a child back two times reduces the chance by ninety percent that the child will graduate from high school. Standardized testing has administrators and teachers living in fear. Many teachers in urban districts across the United States are being forced to essentially read a script, rather than teach the way they know how. “Teachers should refuse to be drill sergeants for state or global corporations,” Kozol stated with great intensity, “they should be missionaries of compassion.” There is no time for questions or anything unrelated to state-regulated material. Children are labeled as “economic producers” rather than what they are, children. Urban students are not encouraged to broaden their minds, but rather spit back information onto a test paper that they will forget the second after the test is over.
Much of this has to do with the fact that so-called “experts” believe that Black and Latino urban students need to be taught differently than White suburban students. These “experts” say that Black and Latino students do not have the ability to learn at the pace of White students. Because of this belief, urban schooling falls far short of the standards of suburban learning. The average Black or Latino twelfth grader reads and computes at the level of a seventh grade White suburban student.
The question that ran through our minds throughout the whole lecture was “Why?” Why are these students dropping out of high school? Why are standardized tests so controlling in the world of education? Why can’t teachers find more creative ways to teach the information on the standardized tests? Why is the mind of a Black or Latino student any less than the mind of a White student? Why isn’t someone reaching out to help the urban students of the world? We feel that this is the job of future educators. “Teachers are the heroes of America.” Urban classrooms across America need good teachers in their future to pull their students in and keep them around.
The public school system is a ”priceless legacy of democracy” and is in desperate need of reform to create equal teaching and oppurtunies to all students, regardless of their ethic background. Education should be fun, and fulfilling for both the students and their teachers. Equality is key in creating productive and successful members of society, without labels and without prejudice. The time has come for someone to do something about it.
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