The first goal and primary function of the U.S. public school is not to educate good people, but good citizens. It is the function which we call - in enemy nations - 'state indoctrination.' Jonathan Kozol More Quotes by Jonathan Kozol More Quotes From Jonathan Kozol When I was teaching in the 1960s in Boston, there was a great deal of hope in the air. Martin Luther King Jr. was alive, Malcolm X was alive; great, great leaders were emerging from the southern freedom movement. Jonathan Kozol boston teaching kings As a matter of record, New York City spends a higher portion of its budget on instruction and associated costs within the schools themselves than any of the other 100 largest districts in the nation. Jonathan Kozol cities new-york school But when I went to Harvard, it kind of got washed out of me, partly because people made fun of you in college. If you said you believed in God, they would look at you clinically, you know, suggest that you needed a referral. Jonathan Kozol college fun people During the decades after Brown v. Board of Education there was terrific progress. Tens of thousands of public schools were integrated racially. During that time the gap between black and white achievement narrowed. Jonathan Kozol achievement black-and-white school I once made a check of all books in my fourth-grade classroom. Of the slightly more than six hundred books, almost one quarter had been published prior to the bombing of Hiroshima; 60 percent were either ten years old or older. Jonathan Kozol six book years I wrote the first book, and I thought people would say: 'Separate and unequal schools in the City of Boston? I didn't know that. Let's go out and fix it.' Jonathan Kozol boston book school Now, I don't expect what I write to change things. I think I write now simply as a witness. This is how it is. This is what we have done. This is what we have permitted. Jonathan Kozol done writing thinking Competitive skills are desperately needed by poor children in America, and realistic recognition of the economic roles that they may someday have an opportunity to fill is obviously important, too. But there is more to life, and there ought to be much more to childhood, than readiness for economic functions. Jonathan Kozol skills opportunity children I beg people not to accept the seasonal ritual of well-timed charity on Christmas Eve. It's blasphemy. Jonathan Kozol charity christmas people My goal is to connect the young teachers to the old, to reignite their sense of struggle. Jonathan Kozol goal struggle teacher If you could lead through testing, the U.S. would lead the world in all education categories. When are people going to understand you don't fatten your lambs by weighing them? Jonathan Kozol education math people On Mondays and Fridays in early May, nearly 18,000 children-the equivalent of all the elementary students in suburban Glencoe, Wilmette, Glenview, Kenilworth, Winnetka, Deerfield, Highland Park and Evanston-are assigned to classes with no teacher. Jonathan Kozol friday monday teacher The recklessness with which we sacrifice our sense of decency to maximize profit in the factory farming process sets a pattern for cruelty to our own kind. Jonathan Kozol patterns sacrifice kind So long as these kinds of inequalities persist, all of us who are given expensive educations have to live with the knowledge that our victories are contaminated because the game has been rigged to our advantage. Jonathan Kozol victory games long In public schooling, social policy has been turned back almost one hundred years. Jonathan Kozol social teaching years East St. Louis-which the local press refers to as "an inner city without an outer city"-has some of the sickest children in America. Of 66 cities in Illinois, East St. Louis ranks first in fetal death, first in premature birth, and third in infant health. Jonathan Kozol illinois cities children Charity isn't a good substitute for justice. Jonathan Kozol adversity humility justice I think a moment of critical energy has suddenly emerged. But moments like this come and go unless we seize them at their height. Jonathan Kozol height energy thinking Apartheid does not happen spontaneously, like bad weather conditions. Jonathan Kozol apartheid doe weather People rarely speak of children; you hear of 'cohort groups' and 'standard variations,' but you don't hear much of boys who miss their cats or 6-year-olds who have to struggle with potato balls. Jonathan Kozol cat struggle children
