My quotes today are coming from The Shame of the Nation by Jonathan Kozol. These are quotes I have chose are located in the first 3 chapters and I selected these in particular because of the viewpoint that author uses throughout this section. Kozol relies heavily on the feedback from the students in the public schools he visits to see and reflect on what really occurs.

p. 12 "I have been criticized throughout the course of my career for placing too much faith in the reliability of children's narratives; but I have almost always found that children are a great deal more reliable in telling us what actually goes on in public school than many of the adult experts who develop policies that shape their destinies."

When I read this line I thought for a moment about how much dialogue consists between teachers and students on a daily basis. Following this, I wonder if each party is truly listening to the other. Now, Kozol is taking a step back after countless interactions with school officials and learned individuals (I'm assuming) in the political and education realm and he is declaring that he would rather listen to the opinions of a 7-year-old than that of an educated adult. I would imagine that he is not only talking to the young individuals, but truly listening to what they have to say. I would also venture to say that they can probably provide more honesty and insight than many adults give them credit for. Several of the following quotes are from these school-aged children and I begin to see why Kozol places so much emphasis on their contribution and insight.

p. 15 "Since she only had the slightest knowledge of what schools were like outside her neighborhood, there would be no reason why she would remark upon the fact that there were no white children in her class. This, at least, is how I had interpreted her silence on the matter in the past."

Kozol is speaking about the young girl, Pineapple, he befriended in a school in the South Bronx. He mentions how they had conversed several times in the past and she never once mentioned the issue of color or the fact that there were no white children in her class. Kozol then continues that she is curious about the matter, that she has questions yet was hesitant to ask. Where and at what age do children begin to understand the differences in their lives? Are they exposed to these things through the media or at school or at home? This is not a topic that should be pushed under the rug because then it takes that much longer to find a solution or put one into effect. In Pineapple's case, she didn't speak about it so it was assumed she didn't know anything about it. The complete opposite was true. She felt a separation between the "you" and the "us" and used that in her conversation. She had questions about the way other people lived yet never had the outlet to express them. I have no idea what it is like to work in an urban school, but in a school where diversity is practically nonexistent I would hope that a child can inquire about these things somewhere because they are present. Again, this goes back to the first quote, how children can be brutally honest and they do not always mask their questions or doubts. Perhaps, at times, that is the better of the two options.

p. 28 "It's like we're being hidden."

This is the response of a high school student in a deeply segregated school in Harlem when asked about racial segregation. I believe this would be a comment that not only one student could or would make. For this girl, there was a sense that she did not even matter. If this individual has this sense of worth at the age of 15, what could happen and what needs to happen in order to change her perspective? This view, I would imagine, is ingrained in her mind. She is a child who is not thinking like one. This does not represent the carefree attitude one would hope for for a 15 year old. If the most innocent years of her life were tainted by this thought, that she is 'being hidden' from the outside world, how can she formulate another perspective if life continues in this pattern and she sees the segregated schools remaining segregated?

p. 29 "I think they'd be relieved."

Similar to the quote on page 28, a fellow student made this response how Americans would feel if she died or left for somewhere else. This is the sort of rawness Kozol is looking for in his interviews. I would not imagine a public official using this sort of language. Children do not hold back on their opinions and especially an opinion about this topic. Again, this sense that these students do not matter when it comes to general society is a tremendous thought at such a young age. This young individuals live and breathe this everyday and when does that change?

p. 37 "It is harder to convince young people they 'can learn' when they are cordoned off by a society that isn't sure they really can."

I would like to tie this quote in with the 2 quotes by the young students above (p. 28 & 29). Kozol states that as a whole, society does not have faith in these individuals. I think this is a loaded statement and a lot goes into it. Now he is asking how do you convince a child, who may already believe he or she is not valued by society, that prosperity is ahead. In addition to this, who is supposed to be trying to convince these students who already feel this way? As a teacher, what can you tell your students? Do you avoid the issue as perhaps Pineapple's teachers did (therefore she never had the opportunity to inquire) or do you raise the topic and have that difficult but absolutely necessary conversation? This would also require the teacher to actively listen for the student's point of view, especially if the teacher is not from the area or did not grow up in a similar environment as his or her students.

p. 71 "The uniform activities and teacher's words controlled my own experience perhaps as much as they controlled and muted the expressiveness of children."

As the author comments on the type of mandatory instruction the teachers must provide, he himself feels silenced. I suppose he has had many experiences where he has been spoken to, but I through his words, I feel as though he is regressing in the part of the book to the age of the students with whom he is sitting, and feeling incredibly uncomfortable. These young people possess the natural reaction to shout and and say what is on their mind and express themselves freely and truthfully, are not given the liberty to do so. Not that this should be encouraged all of the time, but children are not robots, they need to let out their energy and given an outlet every once in a while.

p. 72 "Nearly the entire schoolday comes to be a matter of unnatural theatrics that cannot be improvised to any real degree without the risk of teachers being criticized by their superiors."

Kozol ridicules how the lessons (in which his opinions are 'muted') at P.S. 65 are premade, or as I would call them cookie cutter lessons. These students are being educated by a group of people who sat down and put together materials that a number of students would receive. They material may have absolutely nothing to do with their real lives, nothing to which they can relate. I do not know for a fact but I would also assume that the people who comprised the material did not come from the same background as the students. Assuming this, I would then go one step further and say that the material being presented most likely does not have a strong connection to the life that the students know. A useful strategy that I have been exposed to is activating prior knowledge or creating background knowledge if it does not already exist. How can a teacher make the subjects come alive if they are not given the opportunity to deviate or expand on any of the topics? I was shocked to read this, I had no idea that this sort of instruction even existed and Kozol's anger towards this comes through in this section. Rightfully so.