Jonathan Kozol, renowned author, activist, and educator, led an open discussion workshop about education in America on September 17 in the Events Barn. The event was open to the public and well attended by Hamilton students and faculty members, as well as educators from the local community.
The workshop was held in conjunction with Kozol's lecture, "Savage Inequalities: Class, Race and Social Justice in the U.S. Public Schools." The lecture and the workshop were co-sponsored by the by VPAA/Dean of the Faculty and the Office of the President, and presented as part of the Kirkland Project's 2004 - 2005 series, Class in Context.
The workshop focused on discussing the impact of standardized testing in public schools. Kozol asked the teachers in attendance to explain their position or situation in the educational system, and how their teaching and their classroom environment has been affected by the state's mandated testing. By flushing out testing requirements, such as the ELA tests and the New York State Regents testing, Kozol believed that the future educators would get a better sense of what "teaching is really about now: testing." Touching on subjects such as benchmarks and milestones, teachers explained that the new standards in New York State greatly effect what can be taught, as many teachers admitted to spending lots of time "teaching the tests."
Kozol concluded after much discussion that education is unfortunately becoming like a business in America. With business jargon dominating curriculum, and improvement plans and percentage points controlling administrative discussion, education is becoming less personal. "Business leaders are not teachers, and most business leaders could probably never survive a day in a fourth grade classroom…[but they] are making the important decisions that effect teachers," Kozol explained. Steering away from the mandated curriculum, or "getting off the train," allows for personal interaction, and will help students achieve the best, most comprehensive education.
The Kirkland Project for the Study of Gender, Society and Culture is an on-campus organization committed to social justice, focusing on issues of race, class, gender, sexuality, disability, as well as other facets of human diversity. By sponsoring a lecture series, curricular initiatives, student research and community work, and faculty development seminars, the Kirkland Project seeks to provide the integrated, complex, rigorous intellectual analysis and engagement with ideas that is characteristic of a liberal arts education and necessary for social justice movements.
-- by Emily Lemanczyk '05
