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This review has been accessed times since March 2, 2006

Kozol, Jonathan. (2005). The Shame of the Nation: The Restoration of Apartheid Schooling in America. New York: Crown Publishers.

416 pp.
$25 ISBN 978-1-400-5244-8

Reviewed by Nathalis G. Wamba
Queens College, City University of New York

March 2, 2006

For another review of this book, see
the review by Ramin Farahmandpur

At a symposium held in October 24-25, 2005 at Columbia University in New York City, researchers from various higher education institutions tallied the costs of low educational attainment. They argued that the United States of America could regain about $ 200 billion a year in economic losses and secure its place as the world’s future economic and educational leader by raising the quality of schooling, investing more money and other resources in education, and lowering dropout rates. The findings presented were startling. Unless there is a drastic improvement in our education system, the U.S. will experience a shortfall of 7 million college-educated workers by 2012, compared with the projected need. Another finding mentions that increasing the high school completion rate by 1 percent for all men age 20 to 60 could save the country up to $1.4 billion a year in reduced costs from crime. A high school dropout pays over a lifetime less than $60,000 in taxes, a loss in federal and state income taxes for all 23 million of the nation’s high school dropouts ages 18 to 67.(Richard, 2005).

Schools in the United States are segregated by race and social class. Middle and upper middle class children attend suburban schools that are architecturally well designed. The facilities are better equipped. The classes are smaller. Teachers get significantly higher salaries and therefore the school system can select some of the finest teachers, drawing away from poorer urban schools. Inner city schools tend be overcrowded, under resourced, with crumbling facilities yet equipped with state of the art weapons scanning metals detectors. Graduation rate for white and Asian students are around 75 and 77 percent respectively. In schools where 90 percent or more of students are children of color (African American, Hispanic, Native Americans, Pacific Islander) only 42 percent make it to grade 12. Some school leavers find their way to college. However, it is safe to assume that the majority has limited opportunities. The implications of these high dropout rates are far reaching and devastating for individuals, communities, and the economic vitality of this country (Orfield, 2004).

“The Shame of the Nation: The Restoration of Apartheid Schooling in America.” is Kozol’s latest book on education. If one were to believe that the major battles for racial equality have been won and what remains is the ironing out of some details, Kozol cautions us to think again. The theme of this book is the conditions under which we educate poor and minority children. This latest book is a sequel to his other well known publications on education “Death at an Early Age,” ” Savage Inequalities,” and “Amazing Grace.”

“Shame of the Nation” is the culmination of research Kozol conducted during numerous visits to nearly 60 schools in 11 states. During his visits he observed crumbling physical facilities, collapsing ceilings, rotted window frames, rat infested classrooms, out-of-use bathrooms, insufficient desks and chairs, classes held in walk-in closets and stairwells, and alarming rates of teacher turnover. Students in these poor schools, Kozol observes, are exposed to endless drilling for standardized tests that have become the curriculum. The absence of opportunity to study the arts, social studies and science simply serves to further the gap between rich and poor.(Hoffman, 2005). Schooling in poor and minority communities, Kozol argues, has taken on a culture of militarism detrimental to the development of intellectual curiosity and creativity.

Kozol collected demographic data, listened to the voices of children, their teachers, principals and some of the most trusted community leaders. He cites statistics indicating an alarming rate of segregation. In cities like Houston and Chicago fewer than 10% of the public school students are white. In New York City, the largest school district in the nation, nearly three quarters of students are either black or Hispanic. Comparing inner city schools to their suburban counterparts, he shows how suburban school districts around the country spend two or three times as much on the education of each child, while students in inner city schools are told that money does not matter. Kozol convincingly counters this argument by replying that there are parents who use every advantage of wealth to make sure that their kids get a top-notch education, then ask without any apparent irony whether in minority communities you can really buy your way to better schooling.

On the whole, Kozol argues that the poor students he met were bright children who, in better circumstances, would be college-bound. Instead they are referred to vocational courses. While children in affluent districts get to take elective courses in computer graphics, broadcasting, art and sculpture. Mireya, a Los Angeles student is frustrated because she is required to take a sewing class even though she already knows how to sew. Kozol asks her what she would rather take. She tearfully responds that she wants an AP course and hopes to go to college. Fortino, another student, interjects saying “The owners of the sewing factories need laborers.” “These laborers” he continues “are not going to be their own children. You’re ghetto, so we send you to the factory. You are ghetto—so you sew.”

Kozol does not propose new solutions to educational apartheid. He still believes in racial integration. Integration, he argues, confers benefits beyond the academic. Inner city youth who eventually graduate from college will join mainstream America and will be competing with their white counterparts. Integration is a way of preparing them for the world of work.

Kozol’s argument about the existence of the educational apartheid in the public school system is sound and he presents compelling evidence for it. Yet he spends a great many pages describing the state of schools he visited and barely begins to dissect the causes of this apartheid. Unlike in “Savage Inequalities,” where he specifically challenges the unfairness of using property taxes to fund the public school system, in “Shame of the Nation” he attributes school apartheid to some ambiguous causes such as official indifference, collective disregard for the poor, etc. Although at times he jabs at both Bush administrations for not improving the educational system, he fails to mention that the Clinton years did not bring significant changes in the public education system either.

It is indeed difficult to point to one set of elements as being the cause of educational apartheid in the U.S. Intertwined social, economic and political factors have fostered this apartheid. Moreover, the history of slavery, Jim Crow legacy continue to shape our education system. Kozol reluctance to delineate the causes of gross inequalities he describes hinders the readers and perhaps Kozol’s own, search for solutions. Given the high cost to the nation as a whole of our failing education system, simply enumerating the problems seems a luxury we can’t afford.

Kozol leaves undiscussed the incisive comment by the student Fortino. Fortino links the notion of educational apartheid to the new political economy. We expect schools to equip our children with high skills so that they can be productive in the new economy. Unfortunately this is not the case in Mireya’s and Fortino’s school. “America choice: high skills or low wages” a report by the National Center on Education and the Economy (1990), suggests that most American employers organize work in a way that does not require high skills, they report no shortage of people who have such skills and foresee no shortage. One out of every four jobs in the US pays low wage. There are thirty million Americans who earn less than $ 8.70 an hour. They hold jobs that pay few basic benefits, such as, health care, sick pay, disability pay, paid vacation and retirement (Shulman, 2003). Big companies are making choice to remain competitive by cutting wages and moving their operations overseas. Public officials fail to prepare our children to be productive workers. Ultimately, we are all making the choice by silently accepting the course.

The opportunity structure for school leavers leaves much to be desired. Barton (2005), an education writer, consultant and a Senior Associate in the Educational Testing Service Policy Formation center, explains “there are less than 300,000 full-time training and educational opportunities for 2.4 million low-income 16 to 24 years old who left school without a diploma or got a diploma and can’t find a job.” (p.29). A school leaver can enroll in an alternative educational program e.g., general equivalency diploma (GED), Job Corps, Youth Build USA, etc. These programs suffer from a lack of funding. Those who graduate with a high school diploma from inner city schools where the scores are generally low face limited college opportunities and may not have other alternative than joining the military, getting a low wage job or, in the worst case landing in prison.

The No Child Left Behind makes some provisions for high school students who would like to join the military. This legislation stipulates that public high schools must give military recruiters the same access to students as the schools provide to recruiters from college and private employers. The military advertises college tuition, career opportunities, the chance to travel abroad, stability and respect these young people otherwise mostly do not have.

Another group of school leavers end up in jail where they join the approximately 1.8 million people who are already behind bars. A 2003 study based on the US Justice Department data reports that two-thirds of prison inmates are dropouts, and that 52 percent of all African American male dropouts in their early thirties have prison records.

(Western, Schiraldi & Ziedenberg, 2003). In the past two decades roughly a thousand prisons and jails have been built in the US. Politicians have used prisons as the cornerstone of economic development in rural areas (Mauer, 1999; Schlosser, 1998). Thus the effects of the educational apartheid trickle down to low wage labor, military, and prison.

Kozol proposes racial integration as a solution to the educational apartheid. He argues that integration opens the door for African Americans to the majority culture. Once they experience this culture, they can use it and take advantage of what it has to offer. He is convinced that if integration were declared a national priority, it would succeed.

Yet when one looks at integrated schools, a disturbing picture emerges. White and Asian students are placed in honor classes. Blacks and Latinos are likely to be in remedial classes. Racial disparities in grades, discipline referrals, extracurricular participation abound (Banks, 2005). To the integration wish of Kozol, a lot of African American would argue that if Americans can muster the will to integrate schools, why can’t they harness that will to improve conditions in the schools minorities attend now. Many African-American educators would prefer a solution that levels the playing field rather than one that merely seeks to remedy racial segregation.

I am not convinced about the benefits of racial integration for African Americans and other people of color. Perhaps whites are more likely to benefit from it. Brown vs. Board of Ed court case mandated integration. Busing failed. School integration caused white flight. Suburbanites resisted sharing housing with low income people. Demographic projections suggest that by the year 2050, only half of Americans will be white.

Kozol makes a serious contribution to our understanding of the challenges inherent in our public education system. Whether it is “Death at an Early Age“ “Savage Inequalities” or “Amazing Grace” he has kept the same theme, warning a public that is unaware of the extreme inequities and segregation present in our public school system. Kozol writes the same book over and over again calling our attention to various challenges faced by children who attend our public school system. The major shortcoming of this book, however, is that Kozol provides a superficial analysis of the causes of educational apartheid, and the solution he proposes, racial integration, does not bear promise in light of what we observe in integrated schools.

References

Banks, S. (2005 September). The Shame of the Nation: The Restoration of Apartheid Schooling in America. Retrieved 11/1/2005 from http://www.calendarlive.com/books/bookreview/cl-bk-bank

Barton, P.E. (2005).One third of a nation: Rising dropout rates and declining opportunities. Princeton, NJ: Educational Testing Service.

Hoffman, M. (2005). “Apartheid” education? A hard hitting indictment of the resegregation of U.S. schools. Retrieved 11/30/05 from http://www.chrono.com/disp/story.mpl/ae/books/reviews/3355980.html

Mauer, M. (1999). The race to incarcerate. The Sentencing Project. New York: The New York Press.

National Center on Education and the Economy (1990). America choice: High skills or low wages. (The Report of the Commission on the Skills of the American Workforce). Rochester, NY: Author

Orfield, G. (2004). Losing Our Future: Minority Youth Left Out. In Gary Orfield (Ed.), Dropouts In America. Confronting the Graduation Rate Crisis. Cambridge, Massachusetts: Harvard Education Press.

Richard, A. (2005). Researchers Tally Costs of Education Failings. Education Week, 25, 6-7.

Schlosser, E. (1998 December). The prison-industrial complex. The Atlantic Monthly, pp. 51-77.

Shulman, B. (2003). The Betrayal of Work: How low-wage jobs fail 30 million Americans. N.Y.: New Press.

Western, B., Schiraldi, V., & Ziedenberg, J. (2003). Education and Incarceration. Washington, DC: Justice Policy Institute, pp. 7-9.

About the Reviewer

Nathalis G. Wamba Ph.D. is an Associate Professor in the Department of Educational and Community Programs in the School of Education at Queens College (CUNY) in New York City.

Copyright is retained by the first or sole author, who grants right of first publication to the Education Review.

Editors: Gene V Glass, Kate Corby, Gustavo Fischman

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