"The Treasured Places": Final thoughts

 Blog post #5, Final thoughts

Welcome back, readers! This week's assignment was to finish the book. So, this post will be about the book as a whole.

My biggest takeaway from this book is:

The American education system is corrupt, broken, and has virtually no seeable solution. 

Throughout the book, it has been demonstrated the layers behind the problems of Apartheid schools. Economic status, social status, race, schooling, as well as others all play a role in Apartheid schools. 

"Economic status and income affect where you live. Where you live affects where your kids go to school. Where your kids go to school affects the type of education they will receive. The type of education they receive affects what job they will have. The job you have affects your economic status and income."

These Apartheid schools make it so the education-to-work path is the one most taken by students because it is introduced at a young age. While there's nothing wrong with this path, it doesn't promote higher education for these higher-paying jobs that are very promoted in predominately white schools. They also introduce this at an extremely young age, which conditions the kids to believe that's all they can be.

Standardized testing has been proven to have a fault when it comes to race and class. The SATs are proven to not be an accurate measure of intelligence, which is why colleges are moving further and further away from them. 

And Kozol's overall use of storytelling to push his argument of the education system being broken makes his work extremely effective.

One of my biggest critiques of Kozol is that he never mentioned how he would help the system, other than getting better teachers. Even then, he didn't emphasize it nearly as much as he should have.  What would make his writing even more effective is if he introduced some solutions for these problems.

And as someone who cares deeply about these issues, it upsets me that I also cannot come up with immediate solutions for this problem other than spreading awareness.

Overall, I enjoyed this novel very much and it solidified my knowledge of race in the American school system. The emphasis on this being a harsh problem back in the 1990s and early 2000s and it still is a problem today shows that not much has changed.

My biggest hope is that the education system does change for the better, and I think that in the wake of the Black Lives Matter movement, it is hopefully getting better.

Thank you reader's for sticking with my five-week blog journey. This has been something I genuinely enjoyed and might continue. 

Thanks for reading!

Works Cited

Kozol, Jonathan. The Shame of the Nation: The Restoration of Apartheid Schooling in America. New York, Three Rivers Press, 2005.

Comments

  1. AnonymousApril 4, 2021 at 1:39 PM

    Hi Paige!
    I'm glad you enjoyed the book - it seems like a very interesting one! Reading your post, I could see similarities between my book and yours regarding the topic of education. It is very true that the education system could be improved to benefit children of color. I do find it interesting that your author was able to describe the issues in depth but didn't offer a solid solution. Do you think this is because he doesn't think it can be fixed? How would you fix the issue yourself? I really do hope we are moving towards major changes. Everyone should have the same opportunities and the belief that they can achieve whatever they put their minds to.
    - Emma H.

    ReplyDelete
  2. AnonymousApril 4, 2021 at 6:22 PM

    Hi Paige! The cycle that you explained at the beginning of your blog post is interesting because it seems so simple, yet is so difficult to break. I would agree that the movement away from the SAT is a big step in the right direction. Most students who take it will testify that it measures your test-taking skills more accurately than it measures your intelligence. Do you think that the College Board as a whole has similar problems? AP tests are touted as essential to admittance into a college, but they are expensive. Do you think that having similar, competing programs would help this problem?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. AnonymousApril 7, 2021 at 10:24 PM

      Hi Francie!
      I do think the college board has the same problem. Their tests aren't rooted in actual intelligence but rather test taking strategy. I would like to see competing programs become more popular, but they would also contribute to the problem.
      You happen to know my personal opinions on the college board, and why I think they're a problem. I would like to see these tests become more accessible to everyone.
      -Paige

      Delete
  3. AnonymousApril 5, 2021 at 9:46 AM

    Hello Paige,
    I enjoyed reading your blog post from the very begining. I think our books have some large similarities in what topics are covered. Mine more broadly covers the school system, housing and standardize testing, though they both share similar findings. I think it is noble of you to admit that you too, don't have an immediate solution to the education issues. Do you think that it will always be like this, as it seems that society always has a lower, middle, and upper class, but there will always be someone struggling? Even if racism was solved with the snap of a finger, do you think somehow there would always be a "minority" wether it is socioeconomic status, race, gender, etc.?

    I know the questions I asked aren't easibly answered either, I just was wondering to where you stood.
    Emily

    ReplyDelete
  4. AnonymousApril 5, 2021 at 11:05 PM

    I agree with you on the fact that Kozol never had a formal proposal of what he thought would be a possible solution. He makes various suggestions and points towards good programs or forms of reform but he never really gives a personal opinion. Being a person who's clearly educated on the topic, I'd be curious as to what he'd exactly propose and how he'd go about doing so. Maybe he'll write a book on what he sees fit as a potential solution. Or even better, perhaps he may take up a position as the head of some education committee.

    ReplyDelete
  5. Ms. LaClairApril 11, 2021 at 4:06 PM

    Do you think that the reason he doesn't offer a solution is that, like you, he doesn't necessarily see an easy solution?

    ReplyDelete
  6. Max GoddardMay 4, 2021 at 9:51 AM

    Based on what I've read here and in Bryce/Max's blog, I agree with your criticism of Kozol for not talking as much as he ought to about solutions. What do you think would contribute to improving the quality of education in low-income areas? Personally, I think that changing the way funding is distributed so that student's aren't taught only how to perform on the test, and having students be recommended for classes based on their skills and interested, with their feedback, instead of simply the quickest school-to-work pipeline.

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

"HELP WANTED": Thoughts

  Blog Post #2: Thoughts Welcome Back, Readers! As you know, the book I am reading for this assignment is The Shame of the Nation  by Jonathan Kozol. This novel dives into modern-day segregation in American schools, better known as, "Apartheid schools".  This week's assignment was to read up to chapter five, bringing us to page 109. In my first post, I talked a lot about how Kozol's style was he used a lot of stories to further his point. He uses this ethos  approach to make the book more genuine and sincere as opposed to just statistics.  In the chapters I read for this assignment, there weren't as many stories, rather one large impactful one.  Kozol tells the story of how he was walking through one of these elementary schools and noticed lots of "HELP WANTED" signs. However, these signs weren't for staffing help, they were so the children could get "managerial positions" within the classroom. These positions would be things like "pen...
Read more

"Browken": Rhetorical Analysis and Style

Blog Post #4, Rhetorical Analysis and Style Hello again, readers! For this week's assignment, my group read chapters 7 and 8, bringing us to page 215. And for this week's blog post, I'm choosing to write about Kozol's style.  So, onwards.  Kozol has had a very distinct voice and style from the beginning of the book. In my other posts, I've highlighted how he plays into pathos through his storytelling. Now, these are stories that highlight race in American schooling systems. I personally find these stories extremely insightful because these students are more than a statistic.  When talking about such a heavy subject, such as race, you need these stories. Statistics aren't going to tell the story of how young students sometimes aren't able to eat their lunch because of how over-crowded the lunchrooms are, how long the lines are, and how little time there is. (176). That's what makes Kozol's writing so effective. His use of story-telling invokes emotion...
Read more