The Savage Inequalities of Public Education in New York
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anderscj"Denial of 'the means of competition' is perhaps the single most consistent outcome of the education offered to poo... http://t.co/UACcFLde
23 days ago via Twittelator · powered by @socialditto
@anderscj
anderscj"The class discusses the Nile River and the Fertile Crescent.
The teacher, in a droning voice: 'How is it useful t... http://t.co/pj2uK8VU 23 days ago via Twittelator · powered by @socialditto
Indeed, what kind of question is that? This is one of my biggest pet peevs about schooling, especially standards-based schooling. Who cares? should be the first question we ask when we design any lesson or learning experience. If the answer is not the students then how on Earth is the lesson going to be effective? This presents teachers with a rather difficult task: convincing young people to care about goals and objectives set for them by someone else. If the teacher can't answer the simple question, "Why are we learning this?" without resorting to, "It's on the test," or "You will need to know this when you go to high school, college, etc." then there is no business including it in the curriculum.
@anderscj
anderscj"The school is integrated in the strict sense that the middle- and upper-middle-class white children here do occupy... http://t.co/qtubMJ6j 23 days ago via Twittelator · powered by @socialditto
@anderscj
anderscj"'See, that's where the trouble starts. They get used to what they have. They think it's theirs by rights because ... http://t.co/Pj143i1J 22 days ago via Twittelator · powered by @socialditto
"'See, that's where the trouble starts. They get used to what they have. They think it's theirs by rights because they had it from the start. So it leaves those children with a legacy of greed. I don't think that most people understand this.'" Kozol
That phrase "legacy of greed" is haunting. It suggests that the inequalities we see are not intentional but inherited. It also explains why overcoming inequities is so difficult.
@anderscj
anderscj"They do not want poor children to be harmed. They simply want the best for their own children. To the children of ... http://t.co/bskQe40e 22 days ago via Twittelator · powered by @socialditto
This presents us with a paradox. You should want what is best for your children. You would be a bad parent if you didn't. But, in pursuing that goal you are feeding the beast that creates and sustains inequity because if your child gets the best that means that someone else will get the worst.
@anderscj
anderscj"Once these students win admission to the places where, in Glazer's words, the 'competent' and 'gifted' 'teach each... http://t.co/DLgUZXDB 22 days ago via Twittelator · powered by @socialditto
"Once these students win admission to the places where, in Glazer's words, the 'competent' and 'gifted' 'teach each other' and win 'advantageous' labels, there is no incentive for their parents to be vocal on the issues that concern the students who have been excluded." Kozol
In other words, when the squeaky wheels are greased, no one pays attention to the transmission.
@anderscj
anderscj"Number-juggling by school boards—for example, by devising 'a new formula' of calculation to appease the public by ... http://t.co/rLnZUfiS 22 days ago via Twittelator · powered by @socialditto
@anderscj
anderscj"'We have children,' says one grade-school principal, 'who just disappear from the face of the earth.'" Kozol 22 days ago via Twittelator · powered by @socialditto
@anderscj
anderscj"A city which is home to some of the most clever and aggressive and ingenious men and women in the world surely cou... http://t.co/YfJcLU5L 22 days ago via Twittelator · powered by @socialditto
@anderscj
anderscj"Efficiency in educational provision for low-income children, as in health care and most other elementals of existe... http://t.co/SiP0woXH 22 days ago via Twittelator · powered by @socialditto
@anderscj
anderscj"When a school board hires just one woman to retrieve 400 missing children from the streets of the North Bronx, we ... http://t.co/hHWAcU0s 22 days ago via Twittelator · powered by @socialditto
@anderscj
anderscj"One consequence of medical and early educational denial is the virtual destruction of the learning skills of many ... http://t.co/j1cWxnbL 21 days ago via Twittelator · powered by @socialditto
"One consequence of medical and early educational denial is the virtual destruction of the learning skills of many children by the time they get to secondary school. Knowing one is ruined is a powerful incentive to destroy the learning opportunities for other children, and the consequence in many schools is nearly uncontrollable disruption." Kozol
This explains a lot about classroom management and student behavior in poor schools. It also explains why schools in these areas are often referred to with such demeaning terms as jungle or zoo.
@anderscj
anderscj"According to the New York City Department of Corrections, 90 percent of the male inmates of the city's prisons are... http://t.co/s2EWl21b 21 days ago via Twittelator · powered by @socialditto
@anderscj
anderscj"Few things can injure a child more, or do more damage to the child's self-esteem, than to be locked into a bottom-... http://t.co/TFUxtUkK 21 days ago via Twittelator · powered by @socialditto
@anderscj
anderscj"Facts are cited. Editorials are written. Five years later, the same facts are cited once again. There is no sense ... http://t.co/zoPdjIB6 21 days ago via Twittelator · powered by @socialditto
@anderscj
anderscj"'If you're looking for a home,' a realtor notes, 'you can look at the charts for school expenditures and use them ... http://t.co/kpsdFNuG 21 days ago via Twittelator · powered by @socialditto
@anderscj
anderscj"To be in favor of 'good families' or of 'good administration' does not take much courage or originality. It is har... http://t.co/QKQ2iuBM 21 days ago via Twittelator · powered by @socialditto
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