Jonathan Kozol

I serendipitously was given an opportunity to hear Dr. Kozol at the Biggy Lecture at UML yesterday afternoon.  A summary of the lecture can be found on Jackie Doherty’s webblog.  This was the second time I’ve heard Dr. Kozol speak — each time it’s been thought-provoking.

 This time, Dr. Kozol spoke at length about the battering public education takes in districts with high rates of poverty (and conversely lower funding of education).  Our students need the same advantages that their counterparts receive in more affluent communities — and they need them now.  For me, it’s a matter of justice: my third grade students are just as bright and creative as anyone else here on God’s green earth, but many of them are not treated that way.  When people in my hometown ask what I do and I tell them, I often get that pitiful look that urban educators come to recognize as part condescension and part prejudice.  I have actually heard one suburban educator voice the opinion that urban educators can’t be all that smart since the test scores in the cities are so much lower.

One of yesterday’s panelists — a 30-year veteran art teacher  (Mr. Meehan) — spoke to this through his own experiences teaching kids in Lawrence, MA.  Being “street smart”, our kids know things we can’t possibly imagine and they are very successful living in their environments.  Think about it: what would happen to us if we had to deal with some of the social and economic challenges our students have come to think of as commonplace?  What our kids want — and what we should stand up for — is success outside of their environment.  We — and they — want worldly success for our students. And that, is the challenge Dr. Kozol left us with — what are WE going to do to effect the change our students need and deserve.