Renowned educator, author and activist Jonathan Kozol presented a powerful, dynamic lecture titled "Savage Inequalities: Class, Race and Social Justice in the U.S. Public Schools," on September 17 in Hamilton's Chapel. Dean David Paris and Professor Vivyan Adair both introduced Kozol, praising his expansive work and applauding him for making educational inequalities "less of an abstraction and more of a reality."
Kozol began his lecture by thanking the public school teachers in attendance; "teachers don't get the praise they deserve these days. Teachers are my heroes ... they bring joy and love and mystery and magic to pint-sized people!"
Kozol described his experiences as a student at Harvard, as a Rhodes scholar at Oxford, and as a young teacher in the Boston Public Schools. He gave a humorous account of his years after Oxford in Paris, where met prolific authors Richard Wright, James Jones and William Styron and learned how to write.
Returning to the United States in 1964, he was undecided about what he was going to do for the rest of his life. Inspired by events of racial inequality that occurred in early 1964, Kozol went to teach children how to read in freedom school. He enjoyed the work so much he went back to school to earn his teaching certification and became a 4th grade teacher in one of the poorest public schools in Boston.
Since 1964, Kozol has worked with some of the poorest children in American cities, focusing much of his time and energy in studying and helping children living in the South Bronx. For the last 40 years, he has fought for the "powerless" people of this impoverished area.
Kozol described the economic inequalities within New York City, comparing Manhattan's Upper East Side with the South Bronx neighborhood of Mott Haven. He gave startling statistics about the struggling Head Start programs; four years ago, he said, only one-quarter of all children in the South Bronx could attend the under-funded Head Start program. Kozol juxtaposed the limited educational opportunities for the young children in the South Bronx with the posh pre-school programs many children from the Upper East Side attend. He noted that the economic disparities are so stark that there "is not even an ounce of meritocracy" in the educational system; he went so far as to say there is no competition, as the game is rigged in favor of the wealthy.
Kozol also discussed at length his vehement opposition to the new testing requirements imposed by the No Child Left Behind Act. He claimed mandating "high-stakes tests" at such a young age is outrageous when early education is not provided for all children before kindergarten. "Who do you think is going to do best?" he rhetorically asked the audience.
Schools in New York City have historically and continue to be segregated and shockingly unequal, Kozol explained. "All children are equal in the eyes of God," he said, "but not in the eyes of America. Children have a price tag printed on their foreheads." Kozol assured the audience that the best and only way to help children in impoverished schools obtain a better education and thus better opportunities is to increase funding to poor schools. "Can you buy your way to a better education?" Kozol asked. "Yes," he avowed.
Funding needs to be provided to schools now, Kozol explained, because childhood is not something you can give back to a child; for funding to come 'someday' does not help the children in poor schools today. "Patience is the luxury for people who aren't in pain. Patience is not a virtue, it is a crime!," he said, reacting to Washington's lackadaisical response to unequal educational funding. Kozol ended his powerful lecture with some words of advice for Hamilton students: "Life goes fast. Use it well."
The lecture, co-sponsored by the Vice President for Academic Affairs and the Dean of Faculty and the Office of the President, was presented as part of the Kirkland Project's 2004 - 2005 series, "Class in Context."
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
