Jonathan Kozol’s book The Shame of a Nation discusses and examines the incredibly prevalent issue of wealth and income inequality as it relates to education. In short, the kind of segregation that occurred between black and white during the Jim Crow era of the 20th century is still happening to a large extent, and it is dramatically affecting the lives and educations of many families. Wealth inequality dramatically dictates who goes to school where, and the quality of their education at present prevents them from uplifting themselves into any kind of better future. Social mobility is at a standstill, as the thing people need to succeed – a good education – is being held back by circumstances beyond their control. Kozol uses a combination of strong writing, well-researched facts and statistics, and personal testimony to highlight these issues and how they affect everyone.
Kozol’s primary approach to the book was to travel around to nearly 60 public schools in America to document what he saw and experienced there. Overall, in his journey, he discovered that wealth and income inequalities remained rampant; inner-city schools held high concentrations of black and Latino students, in many cases taking up the entire student body (Kozol 40). This is a far cry from the promise given by Civil Rights leaders in the 1960s, when race relations ostensibly improved substantially; however, Kozol notes that these problems are still part and parcel of the American Experience. “One of the most disheartening experiences for those who grew up in the years when Martin Luther King and Thurgood Marshall were alive is to visit public schools today that bear their namesand to find how many of these schools are bastions of contemporary segregation” (Kozol 22). To that end, Kozol’s estimation that the divide between white and black, particularly in schools, is as wide as ever.
Despite the ostensible claims of a post-racial America, Kozol claims that this is still not the case, as schools are still largely separated between black and white due to socioeconomic factors. Schools in the inner city are populated mostly by black students, while more affluent schools will see whites as their majority. In inner-city schools, Kozol “simply never see[s] white children” (10). Kozol claims that one thing that would help both these childrens’ futures and race relations in America is allowing schools to become more diverse, and letting them “go to schools where all their classmates are not black and brown” (Kozol 36). Kozol discusses overcrowding in both white and black schools, noting that this indicates a lack of resources that is ultimately hurting kids’ education, as these schools are not given the space or staff to function in an efficient manner. Some schools are completely ill-equipped to function, like a “make-shift elementary school housed in a former skating rink” he comes across (Kozol 41).
The sociopolitical factors that led to this incredible segregation are outlined by Kozol. In short, in the half-century since Brown v. Board of Education took apart the “separate but equal” policies that kept black and whites separate, whites simply reacted by leaving the city and creating suburbs, so they could keep their white-centric education. This left minority children, living in families without the means and ways to improve their situation, to stay in the rapidly-deteriorating inner city. Therefore, the public school system is predominantly black, and suffers from the statistically poorer education public school students receive as opposed to affluent private schools. Public and urban schools are now refocusing their curriculum to try and arm their students for a life of middle-management and minimum-wage jobs; “"Do you want a manager's job?" the first line of a kindergarten poster asked” (Kozol 89). In public schools, there is a concerted effort to make sure that students are prepared for the work force, all but preparing them to abandon the idea of going to college and immediately working. Local businesses and corporations often give their support to fledgling schools in exchange for this kind of corporate indoctrination; students early on are conditioned to believe their only options are taking jobs out of high school and becoming consumers for these specific companies, who place their branding in the classroom itself. This is a kind of privatization through sponsorship that leaves these impoverished students with a very bleak future and no chance of social mobility.
The most concerted attempt to combat these inequalities by the federal government takes the form of the No Child Left Behind Act, a move that Kozol is deeply critical of in his work. Instead of utilizing the “power of the federal government to bear on lessening inequities in funding or in infrastructure between wealthier and more impoverished districts,” NCLB simply rewards schools that do well on arbitrary standardized tests and punishes those that do not do well (Kozol 240). These tests dramatically change the landscape of curriculum for students, as the “preparation for the tests control more than a quarter of the year,” and the teachers only teach what is on the test (Kozol 113). This dramatically limits the ability of the teacher to create a customized curriculum, and keeps them from teaching what is truly important. Because of these initiatives, students are not learning life skills and knowledge, they are simply studying for a test; the students learn that “passing is actually the only thing that is important” (Kozol 113). Because of the rigorous standards placed on students, some schools even get rid of recess to make more time for studying. The use of testimony and research enables Kozol to prove that NCLB doesn’t work; it monopolizes learning for the sake of the test alone, and it also punishes those schools that need the most help. Therefore, it actually solidifies this inequality, as the underfunded public schools will simply suffer more because they do not have the resources to get the test scores they need to keep funding.
One of the biggest issues Kozol outlines is the difference in funding between cities and suburbs, where suburbs receive the lion’s share of education expenditures. According to Kozol, in 2002-2003, New York City spent $11,627 on each child for education, but the affluent suburbs like Great Neck and Manhasset spent approximately double that amount (Kozol 45). He also notes the vastly different education experiences that are found in schools that are frightfully close to each other; a predominantly white school with AP classes and a drama club is much better off than the predominantly black school 15 minutes away that has hairdressing classes. These schools arm their children for vastly different career experiences, which is tremendously unfair and contributes to the segregation of these children. These minority-heavy schools have very little in the way of resources; many students enroll in “computer classes where, according to one student, "we sit there and talk about what we would be doing if we had computers”” (Kozol 171). Because these schools are in such disrepair, this also dramatically affects the morale of these students, making them feel woefully unprepared for the real world, and unmotivated to do well in school. Some schools have barely enough desks or chairs for their students, and overcrowded lunch lines deprive students of decent meals. Without the proper resources, students are not able to take AP classes or focus on the proper avenues in their education, instead settling for almost stereotypically stratifying courses that are more modest and marketable (like seamstress and hairdresser work).
Kozol’s solutions for the problem are interesting, but they do not receive as much fleshing out as would be beneficial (which is one of the major problems with the book). He makes mention of integrated schools, but does not elaborate on what exactly would be improved with the integrated school strategy. We understand that segregation is harmful to minorities, but what would the result be of full integration? Would some black students go to private schools, and white students go to public ones? Is it not possible simply to uplift the quality of education in public schools by eliminating NCLB and actually funneling more money to resource-hungry inner-city institutions? These are questions that seemingly go unasked by Kozol, as he simply wishes for schools to be integrated, regardless of the quality of the schools they would enter once integration was accomplished. With a little more specificity in his solutions, rather than just citing desegregation of schools that have had mixed results.
That being said, Kozol’s points still stand strong – America is failing its children, due to a combination of misguided regulation and the perpetuation of classist, racist policies that uphold the status quo and leave minorities and the poor struggling for a good education. According to Kozol, “What is happening right now in the poorest communities of America – which are largely black communities is the worst situation black America has faced since slavery” (313). The gap between rich and poor falls along racial lines, meaning that rich white children benefit from public-school education that is well-funded, while minorities struggle to keep up in public schools that are forced to teach for standardized tests instead of providing a well-rounded education. These factors and more contribute to a substantial difference in the way rich and poor children are taught in this country, and these are things that Kozol highlights wonderfully.
In conclusion, Shame of a Nation is a fantastically enlightening read, and is full of information and criticism on the state of America’s floundering education system. Because of America’s existing problems with wealth and racial inequality, many people get the short end of the stick on their education, and are unable to make a better life for themselves. Kozol points out these trends through careful research and personal testimony from his visits to several dozen schools, but has trouble coming up with coherent solutions that are varied and sufficiently detailed. To that end, it seems further research into this phenomenon must be conducted in order to fix the problems Kozol outlines in his book.
Works Cited
Kozol, Jonathan. The Shame of a Nation. Crown, 2005. Print.
