Shame of the Nation: Jonathan Kozol and America's apartheid schools

[Karmadillo]

The fascists encourage global warming, they take from the poor and give to the rich, they engage in illegal wars for profits and oil, and they imprison our kids in crap schools. What in the world will it take to get us out into the streets?

http://www.zmag.org/content/showarticle.cfm?SectionID=30&ItemID=8943

Now, 50 years after the 1954 Brown v. Board of Education decision that struck down “separate but equal” as inherently unfair, schoolchildren in the U.S. are again suffering the consequences of segregation--an all the more odious reality because segregation has been outlawed on paper.

In his new book Shame of the Nation, Jonathan Kozol rips the veil off of America’s “apartheid schools.”

Schools have been re-segregating for the past dozen years, Kozol explains, so that “the proportion of Black students in majority-white schools has decreased to a level lower than in any year since 1968.” Gary Orfield and the Civil Rights Project of Harvard University show that 2 million students attend these “apartheid schools” (a term Kozol uses for schools where the student body is more than 99 percent non-white). Overall, almost three-quarters of Black and Latino students attend schools that are predominantly minority.

Kozol says that “the four most segregated states, according to the Civil Rights Project, are New York, Michigan, Illinois and California. In California and New York, only one Black student in seven goes to a predominantly white school.”

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“A political movement is a necessary answer,” says Gary Orfield. “We cannot look to courts to do it in the present age. We cannot look to the two political parties, the Republicans and the Democrats, to do it. We need to reach out to a broader section of the nation to initiate a struggle.” A columnist for Time magazine calls for “a radical proposal...revive the civil rights movement.” A teacher says, “We need our teachers marching in the streets.”

more...

[donco6]

1. Didn't we already try this?

Kozol implicitly endorses these approaches, as well as everyday resistance. School administrators, teachers and parents can collectively decide to try to step “out of the box” of the testing and accountability mania. Some neighborhoods and schools could be desegregated relatively easily voluntarily. After all, 60 percent of young adults surveyed report that “the federal government ought to make sure that public schools are integrated.”

Is he talking about bussing again? With all the suburbs and white flight school districts in existence nowdays, how would that work? Cross district bussing? We might have to all begin carrying weapons just to protect ourselves if that happens. Parents will go nuts, just like in Boston in the 60s. And no, I don't have a better solution, but :scared: :scared: :scared:

[Viva_La_Revolution]

2. Today - on BOOK TV

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=104&topic_id=5067487&mesg_id=5067681

Sunday, October 16 7pm
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The Shame of the Nation: The Restoration of Apartheid Schooling in America

Jonathon Kozol

Jonathon Kozol is listed as #9 on conservative pot-stirrer Bernard Goldberg’s 100 People Who Are Screwing Up America.

In his book, Kozol delivers an indictment of public education and the public policies that preserve inequities along race and class lines. In his lecture, he will examine the nation’s long history of disenfranchising minority students and slotting them into some of the worst schools.

Kozol has tackled topics dealing with literacy challenges in urban areas, the resilience of urban children, and school equity. His first book, Death at an Early Age, is a description of his first year as a teacher. Published in 1967, it received the 1968 National Book Award in Science, Philosophy and Religion. Now regarded as a classic by educators, it has sold more than two million copies in the United States and Europe.

[Karmadillo]

5. Thanks much for the heads-up.

nt

[entanglement]

3. Something to be noted

'...Kozol says that “the four most segregated states, according to the Civil Rights Project, are New York, Michigan, Illinois and California. In California and New York, only one Black student in seven goes to a predominantly white school.”'

Amply demonstrates that racism isn't just a Southern thing, some of the more 'liberal' states have their own problems. Does anyone need more proof?

[Branjor]

4. I went to a

Lutheran high school in the Bronx, N.Y. in the late 60s. In my day it was about 60% white and 40% minority. Out of curiosity, I googled it on the net and found out that the student body is now 99% minority! The tuition is a lot more than in my day too.