Letters to a Young Teacher

Kozol was a major part of my undergraduate education so when I saw this book I had to pick it up. It was slow going because I didn't read very much at a time and I actually returned it to the library, then picked it up again when I had more time to read. Kozol loves going for the sensational pronouncements about children in America's schools, often (rightly, sometimes) indicting school districts, administrators, and even whole communities for not taking better care of the children entrusted to them. It does get a bit wearisome to keep rehashing the same ideas. Additionally, Kozol occasionally contradicted his own statements.

In some ways this book is very discouraging. The Kozol's assertion that we can no longer speak in terms of the progress resulting from “Brown vs. Board of Education” but, instead, should question wether or not we are living up to the “doctrine of separate but equal” from “Plessy v. Ferguson” is dispiriting but hard to refute. On the other hand, the author's words could be viewed as a call to action. Determining the most appropriate actions to address the inequity of our educational systems is, of course, an extremely difficulty and complex problem.