Critical Review: "The Shame of the Nation" by Jonathan Kozol

In his book, "The Shame of the Nation", Jonathan Kozol highlights the struggles that children of the poor and minorities face in trying to achieve the same education as children of the upper class. Through segregation and poverty, students of the inner-city wander aimlessly through a school system designed to deny them an education, a voice, and a hope for the future-a school system backed by a government who blames its own failures on those of the schools'. Through his travels, as well as expert testimony, Kozol documents a detailed description of the school, the classroom, and the law-and how it traps inner-city students into the same, poverty-stricken life they were born into.

As Kozol has traveled to many inner-city schools over the years, he has seen certain patterns that reinforce why predominantly minority schools always seem to let their students down. One thing that is apparent in all the schools he visits is that he "simply never see[s] white children" (Kozol 10). While the presence of white children does not necessarily indicate the presence of experienced teachers and useful resources at a school, as Kozol notes, "letting [minority children] go to schools where all their classmates are not black and brown" would "reduce the damage done" to them (Kozol 36). This view is evident in comparing the presence of overcrowding in predominantly white schools and in predominantly minority schools. Through his travels, Kozol found that many of the predominantly minority schools have an inadequate size and/or location to educate students effectively. For example, Kozol notes a "make-shift [minority] elementary school housed in a former skating rink" that was so short on space that it taught four kindergarten classes and a sixth grade class simultaneously in a "single room that had no windows" (Kozol 41). He also visited many minority schools that were forced by the government to take in so many students that, in order to school them all, had "half the student body [start] class very early in the morning" and depart after lunch, and the other half "begin the school day

However, in response to these inequalities between white and minority schools, rather than using the "power of the federal government to bear on lessening inequities in funding or in infrastructure between wealthier and more impoverished districts" the government has implemented the No Child Left Behind initiative, which requires students to take many standardized tests, and reduces resources to schools whose students perform poorly (Kozol 240). After this initiative began, as Kozol traveled he noticed that "tests...and preparation for the tests control more than a quarter of the year," and that school curriculums reflected only what would be on these tests (Kozol 113). In interviewing the principal of an inner-city school, Kozol was told that, now, "passing [these tests] is actually the only thing that is important"-if the information isn't tested, it isn't taught, simply because these poor minority schools need the money that would be taken away from them for poor tests scores (qtd. on Kozol 113). Another principal notes that the standardized tests are "starting to control the teaching" so much that his school got rid of recess because it wasn't productive towards test subjects (qtd. on Kozol 165). As you can see, expert testimonies, as well as first hand experience, help Kozol to highlight how the No Child Left Behind initiative is not only ineffective, but also damaging to progress in inner-city schools.

But because Kozol deals so closely with the schools, the students, and the teachers, we receive no larger discussion from him on possible solutions and how these solutions could be implemented. Yes, of course, he calls for integrated schools, but he doesn't go into great detail on how this might be accomplished. He also fails to state how more integration will make an impact educationally. Yes, we see how segregation hurts education of minorities, but would integration solve these problems or cause the overall level of education in the United States to drop? For example, even by integrating schools, the areas in which the schools are located are still either rich, poor, or average. The integrated schools in poor communities may be just as unsuccessful as the segregated schools in poor communities. The issue could entirely depend on the socioeconomic status of the area immediately surrounding the school, rather than the races of children within the school. Kozol doesn't explore this option.

Overall, through his experiences visiting impoverished schools, as well as expert testimony from education officials, Kozol provides ample evidence to that fact that minority children have been let down. Teachers have failed to properly educate them. Schools have failed to provide adequate resources to them. And governments have failed to create an environment in which they can thrive. While Kozol doesn't fully highlight solutions to these problems, he does bring to light the fact that we, as a country, are failing these children. In a nation that was born on the guarantee of "liberty and justice for all," there is still much that needs to be accomplished.

Works Cited:
Kozol, Jonathan. The Shame of the Nation. (Crown, 2005).