week 2

Jonathan Kozol- Savage Inequalities

On page 54 & 55 Kozol talks about the tax brackets for wealthy and low income families. How frustrating. Not only related to education, I just don’t see where all the money goes. It seems so apparent that this school and these children need a lot of help.


The section that states, “…poor children and particularly black children should not be allowed to hear too much about these matters. If they learn how much less they are getting than rich children, we are told, this knowledge may induce them to regard themselves as ‘victims’… and may them undermine their capability to profit from whatever opportunities may actually exist” (57). This comment is crazy. I’m sure some children would feel this way. But everyone reacts differently to things. Maybe get more people aware and involved in this equality would provoke more protest and change from within. If people live their lives never questioning reality, then there will be no interest or intent to change things regardless of the financial situation. I can see how this could happen with some children. I agree with Kozol when he says, “it’s a waste of time to worry whether we should tell them something they could tell to us” (57). Children are smart, they very aware of what’s is being said and not said.


Children’s crayons were rationed? Aren’t crayons like 50 cents a box? I know it is not up to the teachers, but at this point, the teachers and faculty could chip in and buy some supplies or send letters out to get donations for such items. I must have missed where New Trier High School is located. I am assuming near Chicago. Why can’t the governor redistribute funds? I can see where the parent’s of New Trier are saying something like, “it’s our tax money. We want it to go to our children’s schools”. School is not 100% funded by the parents so there has to be a way to provide more opportunities for schools in Chicago.


I do like Kozol’s passage when he quotes John Coons. He argues, “Even accepting, he continues, ’that you get less for your money with poor children, this doesn’t mean such children haven’t the right to equal schools’. True, he says, ’equal opportunity across the board’ will not automatically ‘produce equality’ in school performance” (77). Obviously there is more involved in a rebuilding process. Some of these kids could do more than just cosmetics if they were given the support and opportunities starting from an early age. Some of the statistics previously mentioned in the chapter are pretty intriguing. I’m not sure what I think about statistics because it implies too many assumptions and generalizations.


I was working in a second grade classroom in Edmonds and the teacher’s comments regarding one student had a similar effect on me. I caught a student cheating on her spelling test. I told the girl to focus on her own test and just sound it out and do the best she could. She didn’t stop cheating so I told the teacher. The teacher ripped the test out of the girls hand, told her she was cheating in front of the class and to stay in during recess. I felt so uncomfortable watching all of this. Later on the day during quiet reading time, the teacher told me that if that students reading and test scores didn’t improve by the end of third grade she was never going to make it to college. She made it sound like there was no hope for this young 7 year old. I still have a hard time with this. She has been a teacher for over twenty years. Maybe she just knows the signs, but to me this means, is that this girl was not learning from that teaching method. I didn’t notice the teacher or aid ever spend additional time with this girl or try any alternative teaching method. I was a slow reader in elementary school and in turn did not enjoy reading in Junior High or High school. That doesn’t mean I did bad for the rest of my schooling.


Girls, Worms and Body Image- Lyman


I really enjoyed reading this article. Although Rhonda was still on her diet during the week, the teacher was starting to make some progress with the kids. I stopped for a moment to think about what I would have done in this situation. I know I was far from those feelings when I was a kid. I was not concerned with my image or have those insecurities until high school. I wore sweat or stretch pants all the time, had bushy hair and I uni-brow until about 9th grade. At this point in my life, without any real teaching experiences, I would not have been able to lead this activity as their teacher did. She seemed so patient with them. I want to learn more about what she said when she was trying to explain the difference between fact and stereotype. I’m not sure what I would have said to a group of 2nd and 3rd graders. It would have been difficult to explain it in a way that they would understand (which is probably why the teacher said she was having such difficulty with the task).


I always have wondered how the curriculum is determined. I am assuming some guidelines have been given to the teacher but I’m surprised that she has the flexibility to decide she wants to spend a few days on a topic like this. Do the parents have the authority to tell the school they don’t want their child participating in such an exercise? This is an activity that I hope she revisits and explores a bit more. There is a lot of potential to really push her students a bit on this topic.