We've still got some Savage Inequalities

12/11/09 Ordinary Resurrections audio book by Jonathan Kozol, given away

Jonathan Kozol is the man.

Here's what he has to tell you: kids in poor urban areas have been mistreated by our public education system, and we, as Americans, should not only feel the shame of that fact, but should immediately move to solve the problem.

Mr. Kozol, I'm with you.

He's written a number of powerful books, each more astounding than the last. Savage Inequalities. Amazing Grace. Ordinary Resurrections. The Shame of the Nation. At its heart, his reporting style is simple. He goes into city schools, spends time with children and teachers, and tells their stories.

He thinks we should treat poor young children of color humanely. Which, for the record, we often don't.

If you want to hear him talk -- and he does so with as much passion as he writes -- this link will get you started.

I'm not going to pretend I have the answers to the problems he documents. But, I've spent enough time in the type of schools he writes about to know that it's criminal that we aren't making a better effort to do something.

I thought of Kozol today as I prepared to travel up to the University of Maine for Literacy Coach professional development. Spending the day among dozens of educators who believe that EVERY child can learn, and can be taught to do so with dignity, always reinvigorates me. My intention was to donate my audio book copy of Ordinary Resurrections to the Maine Literacy Partnership's professional library.

But, my friend Janet got to me first. She's a Literacy Coach at Houlton Elementary School, and they are extremely lucky to have her. Janet's actually one of the few people know who I think could have a profoundly positive effect -- all by herself, mind you -- on any school she walked into.

She wants the audio book? She gets the audio book.

Hey, I bet if we put Janet in charge of our worse schools, she'd turn 'em around faster than Jonathan Kozol could say, "Well done, Janet."