Children of the City Invincible: Camden, New Jersey
@anderscj
anderscj"Affluent people, it has often been observed, seldom lack for arguments to deny others the advantages that they enjoy." Kozol
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@anderscj
anderscj"the state requires test results. It 'mandates' higher scores. But it provides us no resources in the areas that co... http://t.co/r406HHHU 20 days ago via Twittelator · powered by @socialditto
@anderscj
anderscj"'What is the result? We are preparing a generation of robots. Kids are learning exclusively through rote. They do ... http://t.co/LDvT3R8m 20 days ago via Twittelator · powered by @socialditto
"'What is the result? We are preparing a generation of robots. Kids are learning exclusively through rote. They do not learn to think, because their teachers are straitjacketed by tests that measure only isolated skills. As a result, they can be given no electives, nothing wonderful or fanciful or beautiful, nothing that touches the spirit or the soul. Is this what the country wants for its black children?" Kozol
By now I think this applies to more than just this country's black kids. By now I think this concerns the 99%
@anderscj
anderscj"In order to get these kids to pass these tests, they've got to be divided up according to their previous test resu... http://t.co/2L3yAqAO 20 days ago via Twittelator · powered by @socialditto
"In order to get these kids to pass these tests, they've got to be divided up according to their previous test results. This is what is now described as 'homogenous grouping.' In an urban school, the term is a misnomer. What does it do to character? The children in the highest groups become elitist, selfish, and they separate themselves from the other children. We don't call it tracking, no. But tell me that the children in Math I or in Math VI don't know why they are there.'" KozolThis sounds exactly like the high school I attended in the late 1990's. I graduated from a class of 165, not tiny but certainly not big. We were, however, big enough that in each subject three distinct tracks could be created and it was obvious, blatant, and intentional. This school had no qualms about sorting kids into the college prep AP track, the manual labor track, or the track in between. This was accepted as a fact of life, done in the name of doing whats in the best interest of students. At that time I was on the AP track but a lot of my friends were on the lower track. I, and a few of my friends, were among the very few for whom their social and academic circles overlapped only slightly. I was comfortable among both crowds. This allowed me the ability to see both points of view Kozol describes here in a way most people don't. I knew there was something wrong and phony about the way school did this but I did not have the language or understanding to articulate what it was exactly. So instead this manifested itself in teen angst, slightly deviant behavior, and deep cynicism. Also as a result I ended up being marginally part of many circles but largely an outsider in all of them. I guess not much has changed. But, to quote Lenny Bruce, "You CAN'T shut up the deviant. You NEED the deviant to tell you when you are fucking up!" Perhaps that is my role. At least it is something to aspire to.
@anderscj
anderscj"They have learned that education is a brittle, abstract ritual to ready them for an examination. If they get to co... http://t.co/oWRJrung 20 days ago via Twittelator · powered by @socialditto
"They have learned that education is a brittle, abstract ritual to ready them for an examination. If they get to college they do not know how to think." Kozol
This adolescent life I led with my academic life lived in one circle and my social life lived in another was perhaps a blessing for this very reason. I was not at the top of my class in high school, I was far too non-compliant and principled for that. I got good grades in school but was not afraid to take poor marks for disagreement of opinion. For insisting that what "is" ought to be seen as what "might be" and rejection of anything schooly without sound purpose I was twice denied acceptance into the National Honor Society and kept a safe distance from the top 5% of my graduating class. These two worlds I walked in gave me a more critical eye and awareness of bias and intent I suspect than it gave to most of my fellow classmates in the top of the class. I say this now only after learning that in college most of those top 5% found their courses too difficult and dropped out. I have wondered for a long time how common this is.
@anderscj
anderscj"'I am asked to speak sometimes in towns like Princeton. I tell them, 'If you don't believe that money makes a diff... http://t.co/oQ79S9nT 20 days ago via Twittelator · powered by @socialditto
@pammoran
pammoranlooking forward to your visit to this book RT @anderscj: ----------Kozol--------ch4 Children of the City Invincible: Camden, New Jersey 20 days ago via TweetDeck · powered by @socialditto
@anderscj
anderscj@pammoran I hope sometime to get to it. As it is I am already 5 books behind on my blog. 20 days ago via Twitterrific · powered by @socialditto
@anderscj
anderscj"What does money buy for children in New Jersey? For high school students in East Orange, where the track team has ... http://t.co/b17pZS0K 20 days ago via Twittelator · powered by @socialditto
@anderscj
anderscj"'This land is your land,' they are told; and, in one of the patriotic songs that children truly love because it su... http://t.co/roFmb91C 19 days ago via Twittelator · powered by @socialditto
"'This land is your land,' they are told; and, in one of the patriotic songs that children truly love because it summons up so well the goodness and optimism of the nation at its best, they sing of 'good' and 'brotherhood' 'from sea to shining sea.' It is a betrayal of the best things that we value when poor children are obliged to sing these songs in storerooms and coat closets." Kozol
@anderscj
anderscj"They look at equality for all and see it spelling excellence for none." Kozol 18 days ago via Twittelator · powered by @socialditto
@anderscj
anderscj"Liberty and equality are seen as antibodies to each other." Kozol 18 days ago via Twittelator · powered by @socialditto
This phrase is perhaps the one from Savage Inequalities that stands out the most for me. I can't tell you how many times in the last few weeks since reading that phrase I've used it, or some derivation of it, myself. This seems especially relevant and fitting for today's national discourse.
@anderscj
anderscj"They soil the flag in telling us to fly it over ruined children's heads in ugly segregated schools...Children in a... http://t.co/Lh5go1qZ 18 days ago via Twittelator · powered by @socialditto
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