Sunday, June 6, 2010
Kozol Blog "Quotes"
In reading the piece by Jonathan Kozol I found a few things which I would like to discuss. Where in speaking to the teacher of an inner city classroom about SFA the teacher says “The rich get richer, and the poor get SFA” (Kozol, 2005). Earlier in the article he makes it very clear that poor children get nothing. He even quotes a little 3rd grade girl. While SFA might not be the correct solution, it is A solution. Before those students got NOTHING, now they get SOMETHING. I agree with the quote “One of the few classrooms I had visited up to that time in which almost nothing even hinting as spontaneous emotion in the children or the teacher surfaced while I was there” (Kozol, 2005) This reminded me of the Pink Floyd video for the song “Another Brick in The Wall Part 2” where a young actor playing the part of Roger Waters is chastised for writing poetry in class. Later that poem would turn out to be a popular song still played today on the radio. There is another section of the video where the students are marching down a hallway into a tunnel where they emerge faceless sitting at desks. I have added the YouTube video to my link list under Pink Floyd in case anyone wants to see it. At the end of the video the students revolt and end up destroying and burning down the school. Are we regressing to this type of instruction again? The final quote I have chosen to reflect upon is “Skinnerian instruction approaches, which decapitate a child’s capability for critical reflection, are not going to change this” (Kozol, 2005) He spends a large amount of this article giving examples of how bad the racial and socio-economical divide is, he even backs it up with research done in schools with testimonials from students and staff. However what he does not do (and I don’t know who is responsible for doing it) is come up with solutions to the problem. It was almost like he was trying to make me feel guilty for not teaching in an inner city school. Much the same way that the commercials with Sally Struthers were supposed to make people adopt a sick kid in Africa. (Not that there is anything wrong with helping others they just used guilt as a tactic.) Once again I don’t know the solution these are just observations.
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I too was struck by your second quote regarding the lack of spontaneous emotion in children or teacher. It is a sad state when a child is not given the opportunity to display emotion in the classroom. Learning should be fun, especially in the early days. More than ever we need to hook kids, all kids into education and learning by making it fun and relevant. I didn't make the connection with Floyd but you nailed it.
ReplyDeleteInitially, my own thoughts went to these youngsters as being prepped to be cogs for the machine. They are being trained in industrial ways to be the working class of tomorrow. They are being trained to develop the dreams and fortunes of those with influence and power. Cheap labor is still important in supporting industry even as the US continues to move from a manufacturing based economy.
Our nation's educational practices of poor and non-white populations teach acquiescence and conformity with little room for spontaneity in emotion or thought and therefore in genuine learning. We are training kids to march and file so that they learn what exactly? Where do those skills matter? When are those skills useful? My immediate answers as to where those skills come in handy are: regimented jobs in corporations, or in the military, or in prisons.
Thank You for the link to Pink Floyd. I agree that the faceless students made a good connection to Kozol's article.
ReplyDeleteI have worked in an urban district where the majority of students were minorities. I disagree that giving students who have NOTHING something (in the form of SFA) is not better than giving them nothing. The program SFA, as described by Kozol is detrimental to students - how much damage was done to those students who had to suffer though it? Kozol also describes hoe the practices are utilized by the military, or in prisons - so that is what we want to teach minority students? We really believe as educaotrs that we should teach minority students to blindly follow authority? How does that teach them to want more and work to achieve more?
Hi Mike,
ReplyDeleteYet again you are making your blog interactive which makes it very interesting to read and react to. This time you also provided media examples that demonstrate your viewpoints and support the view of the author.
I disagree with your first point about SFA being a solution and think SFA is more harmful than helpful and am very thankful that this form of discipline in schools had since been abolished.
That being said, I really appreciate your willingness to express your true thoughts and reactions to articles we read. I think your perspective is refreshing.
Mike,
ReplyDeleteVery emotional posting. I do agree with the majority of your post, but have to slightly disagree with the first part about "the students that got NOTHING finally have SOMETHING." That SFA approach to learning/teaching is absurd to me. As I was reading the article, I wrote in the margin, "Nazi?" Children should not be treated as militants or robots. Their thoughts, creativity, and imaginations should be valued and encouraged, especially in school. We do not always know where a child comes from, their homelife or background, so what we do for them during school hours, as teachers, may effect and change their lives more than we could ever imagine. We, as educators, must make the right choices when deciding approprite and effective ways to teach the youth of this country. We need to provide meaningful teaching that touches the hearts and minds of each of our students.
While it is important to consider that approaches that work for more advantaged students (students who have had the benefit of preschool for example) might not work as well for urban children we have to be careful not to succumb to "desperation strategies"
ReplyDeleteI am not trying to argue that SFA was a good solution or a bad one, just a solution. I will use the example of the MTEL exam I had trouble with the exam (three times) just because I am not good at taking a test does not make me a bad teacher. On the other hand there are people who passed with flying colors the first time but did a real disservice to students in the classroom because they dont know how to teach. this test is a solution to having qualified and certified teachers. I dont think it is the right solution but it is a solution.
ReplyDeleteMike-
ReplyDeleteYou said what I was thinking... and wrote about in my blog. I get it, the situation is dire, terrible, horrible, bad, bad, bad. Let's start looking at solutions. No mention of where to go from here!!?? He has written a lot, perhaps in another text???