As
a democratic socialist myself, from a white working class, Catholic
background, also influenced by Marx, I have observed that conservative
criticism of American public school is as often lucid as Jonathan
Kozol's is sensitive and compassionate.
But in the final analysis, class
injustice not racism is the better explanation for " Savage
Inequalities ". And I just finished reading Chapter 4 of that book : "
Children of the City Invincible: Camden, New Jersey."
" Again there is this stunted image of our nation as a land that can afford one of two dreams-liberty or equity-but cannot manage both " ( Kozol )
But too much of Jonathan Kozol's writing here seems to nurture now effete- and often reactionary from a working class point of view- " identity politics ".
Neo- Democrat Hillary Clinton is the favored presidential candidate of black voters in 2016. What have the Neo-Democrats done for any working class Americans ?
I myself am " feeling the Bern ". Senator Bernie Sanders of Vermont focuses on " unacceptable economic inequality ".
And way back
in 1965 Black Muslim Malcolm X made a connection between racism and
American capitalism, between racism and U.S. imperialism.
I can't
imagine Malcolm X endorsing Hillary Clinton. But black astrophysicist
Neil De Grasse Tyson has recently endorsed " socialist " Bernie Sanders.
So has movie director Spike Lee ( " X " ) .
[ " I greatly appreciated your interview with Jonathan Kozol. Truth tellers like him are priceless national treasures. However, I have to say that I strongly disagree with Mr. Kozol’s assertion that the foundational factor at work in educational inequality is race and not class.
I note that Mr. Kozol mostly visits inner-city urban schools, north of the Mason-Dixon line. He should expand his itinerary.
I grew up in the very majority white rural South, and I can tell you, it is not race that makes the difference. It is class. Many majority white schools (my own was lily-white, with only one African-American student, and the only Latino student was in fact biracial, with one white parent) in rural areas of the South face the same problems as the schools Kozol mentions. Few if any of the students are encouraged to go to college, to dream big, to have ambition. No college prep courses are offered — at least partly because there is not enough money or interest to support their existence or attract qualified teachers — and very few kids manage to graduate without taking “shop” or home economics. " ]
[ " I greatly appreciated your interview with Jonathan Kozol. Truth tellers like him are priceless national treasures. However, I have to say that I strongly disagree with Mr. Kozol’s assertion that the foundational factor at work in educational inequality is race and not class.
I note that Mr. Kozol mostly visits inner-city urban schools, north of the Mason-Dixon line. He should expand his itinerary.
I grew up in the very majority white rural South, and I can tell you, it is not race that makes the difference. It is class. Many majority white schools (my own was lily-white, with only one African-American student, and the only Latino student was in fact biracial, with one white parent) in rural areas of the South face the same problems as the schools Kozol mentions. Few if any of the students are encouraged to go to college, to dream big, to have ambition. No college prep courses are offered — at least partly because there is not enough money or interest to support their existence or attract qualified teachers — and very few kids manage to graduate without taking “shop” or home economics. " ]
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Ron