Diversity, Difference, and Privilege

The following quotes are taken from the book The Shame of the Nation, written by Jonathan Kozol.

“Very little teaching took place in Pineapple’s class during the time that I was there…Nearly two hours had elapsed between the time Pineapple’s classmates formed their line to go to lunch and finally returned.” Chapter 1, Page 14.
As I was reading this particular story about Pineapple, I couldn’t believe that she and her classmates had to wait around every day for two hours. All sorts of questions popped in my head like, why was forming lines so important to the faculty at the school, how many hours did these students spend on academics, and why did transitions take so long in the school? In my past experience in schools, transitions to the cafeteria, recess, and other classrooms took around five minutes. Now that people are aware of this problem in Pineapple’s school changes should be made by the administration. Instead of waiting outside the lunchroom for thirty minutes, teachers should keep the students in the classroom learning.

“Pineapple had four different teachers in a row. One of them was apparently a maladjusted person who, Pineapple said, used swear words to subdue children. One was fired for smoking in the building.” Chapter 1, Page 14.
As a future elementary teacher, this quote made me quite irritated. Teachers are supposed to be positive role models and set good examples for their students inside and outside school. Does this school system look into the backgrounds of potential teachers before they hire them? What is the administration doing to make sure they provide their students with the best possible teachers? Looking at backgrounds and making sure potential teachers have certifications would make for a lesser teacher turnover rate at Pineapple’s school.

“In a Seattle neighborhood for instance where approximately half the families were Caucasian, 95% of the students at the Thurgood Marshall Elementary School were black, Hispanic, Native American, or of Asian origin. An African American teacher at the school told me of seeing clusters of white parents and their children on the corner of a street close to the school each morning waiting for a bus that took the children to a school in which she believed that the enrollment was predominantly white.” Chapter 1, Page 22.
Why are parents busing their children to different schools and is it really because of race issues? I think that schools are definitely segregated in some areas of our nation. In the book, Kozol notes different schools in urban and suburban areas and the demographics, and it clearly shows that there is always a majority of Caucasians, or a majority of African Americans and Hispanics. It is never really equal between the two ethnic groups. Kozol gave many examples of this in schools all around the Unites States, but the it still varies. The Civil Rights Movement purpose was to intergrate whites and blacks together, but now we are moving backwards and becoming segregated again.  

“In one make-shift elementary school housed in a former skating rink next to a funeral parlor in another all-black and Hispanic section of the Bronx, class size rose to 34 and more; four kindergarten classes and a sixth grade class were all packed into a single room that had no windows. Recess was impossible because there was no outdoor playground and no indoor gym, so the children had no place to play.” Chapter 2, Page 41.
As I was reading this section from chapter two, I noticed how different it was from reasoning behind Pineapple’s experience in school. Whereas Pineapple spent two hours of her day at lunch, at recess, and in lines and these children do not have any time to play. Sitting in a crowded classroom must be very difficult to teach in. It is crazy to think that this classroom setting takes place in the twenty-first century in the United States. Schools all around our nation are becoming more and more overcrowded; the government needs to make changes so schools will get more funding. Children should not have to learn in these conditions. Teachers should not have to teach in these conditions.

“A good deal of private money ,moreover as The Times observed, was being collected under the table because parents sometimes feared that they would otherwise be forced to share these funds with other schools.” Chapter 2, Page 48
I did not realize that private funding could be that much beneficial to schools. I agree and disagree with both perspectives on funding. I see the unfair and fair side to parents raising money to better their child’s education experience. However, communities that have more poverty do not have the opportunity to raise as much money. Sharing money with other schools would be helpful because then schools would be able to pay better salaries and provide newer materials to lower economic communities.

“Anxiety, for the children was intensified, according the a fifth grade teacher, by the ever-present danger of humiliations when their reading levels or their scores on state examinations were announced….Children who are labels in this manner soon begin to use these labels to refer to one another or themselves….She wrinkled her nose and looked at me unhappily, I’m just a Level Two.” Chapter 3, Pages 73-74
Children should never feel down about where they are in academics, especially at young ages. In this school system they labeled every student publicly. I don’t think this will help students or the school in receiving better test results. If students have a low self-esteem, they will start to believe they cannot do things and not try as hard. Teachers are supposed to help motivate students not make them feel worse about their academic abilities, which is clearly done with the girl at the end of the paragraph.