The ones I pity are the ones who never stick out their neck for something they believe, never know the taste of moral struggle, and never have the thrill of victory. Jonathan Kozol More Quotes by Jonathan Kozol More Quotes From Jonathan Kozol I do get scared about the physical danger from drug dealers. But it's not in the same league as the danger I feel eating an $80 lunch with my privileged friends to discuss hunger and poverty. That's when my soul feels imperiled. Jonathan Kozol adversity humility courage False hope is worse than despair. Jonathan Kozol despair human-nature change In the book, I write about children in first grade who were taught to read by reading want ads. They learned to write by writing job applications. Imagine what would happen if anyone tried to do that to children in a predominantly white suburban school. Jonathan Kozol jobs book children Hypersegregated inner-city schools - in which one finds no more than five or ten white children, at the very most, within a student population of as many as 3,000 - are the norm, not the exception, in most northern urban areas today. Jonathan Kozol cities children school As damaging as the obsessive emphasis on testing often proves to be for kids in general, I believe that the effects are still more harmful in those schools in which the resources available to help the children learn the skills that will be measured by these tests are fewest, the scores they get are predictably the lowest, and the strategies resorted to by principals in order to escape the odium attaching to a disappointing set of numbers tend to be the most severe. Jonathan Kozol believe kids children Unlike these powerful grown-ups, children have no ideologies to reinforce, no superstructure of political opinion to promote, no civic equanimity or image to defend, no personal reputation to secure. Jonathan Kozol political-opinions powerful children Many of those who argue for vouchers say that they simply want to use competition to improve public education. I don't think it works that way, and I've been watching this for a longtime. Jonathan Kozol think competition education way Our nation's oldest sin and deepest crime is the isolation of minority children - black children, in particular - in schools that are not only segregated but shamefully unequal. Jonathan Kozol nation black sin children I believe we need a national amendment which will guarantee every child in America the promise of not just an equal education but a high-quality equal education. Jonathan Kozol will child education believe Our political establishment refuses to use the word 'segregated.' They call the schools diverse, which means half black, half Hispanic, and maybe two white kids and three Asians. 'Diverse' has become a synonym for 'segregated.' Jonathan Kozol black political three white Schooling should not be left to the whim or wealth of village elders. I believe that we should fund all schools in the U.S. with our national resources. All these kids are being educated to be Americans, not citizens of Minneapolis or San Francisco. Jonathan Kozol elders wealth village believe In schools with a history of chaos, the teacher who can keep the classroom calm becomes virtually indispensable. Jonathan Kozol calm chaos teacher history Discrimination is alive and soaring. Jonathan Kozol soaring discrimination alive No matter what happens in a child's home, no matter what other social and economic factors may impede a child, there's no question in my mind that a first-rate school can transform almost everything. Jonathan Kozol child mind home school Childhood ought to have at least a few entitlements that aren't entangled with utilitarian considerations. One of them should be the right to a degree of unencumbered satisfaction in the sheer delight and goodness of existence in itself. Jonathan Kozol right childhood goodness satisfaction
