In his latest foray against the system, Kozol (Death at an Early
Age, etc.) advocates teachers' use of "subversive" tactics to
change the institutions he sees as perpetuating inequality and
immorality. Some of the tactics are relatively mild - sharing of
teachers' guides with students, writing one's own history books, or
opening students' records to parents (as the law requires anyway);
others, however, are controversial at best. Teachers should not
only provide a broad spectrum of contradictory ideas, they should
also argue strenuously for their own points of view. (Kozol does
suggest that "kids will fight back" with unspecified "weapons" that
these same teachers have provided; but somehow all of his examples
have the students adopting their teacher's radical stance.)
American flags should be removed from classrooms, moreover, and
students should confront boards of education with protests about
reciting the Pledge of Allegiance. And there's some disquieting
talk of "professional protection." Teachers are advised to stay
under cover, to "form a viable coalition for teachers'
self-defense,' to go gently if conservatives are watching, to teach
basics just to win the loyalty of parents. Much is made of
engendering loyalty altogether-so teachers and students will rally
behind a teacher who has been found unacceptable by the local
school board, or who has chosen to take an issue to court (one
chapter is titled "Creating a Crisis-Or Awaiting One"). Ultimately
Kozol wants the schools to be instruments of social change, to
produce a generation of "hard-working, ethically motivated, and
effective rebels." Not new - and very much less impressive than it
once was. (Kirkus Reviews)
In this critique of the US public school system, the author uses
examples from the real experiences of other teachers and parents
who share his concern with shaping the values of caring,
responsible citizens of the future. Kozol has also written
Illiterate America and Savage Inequalities.
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