Jonathan Kozol on Al Franken's show right now

[proud2BlibKansan]

One of my heroes. If you aren't familiar with him, check him out.

Jonathan Kozol (born 1936 in Boston) is a non-fiction writer, educator, and activist, best known for his books on public education in the United States. In the passion of the civil rights campaigns of 1964 and 1965, Kozol moved from Harvard Square to a poor black neighborhood of Boston (Roxbury, MA) and became a fourth grade teacher in the Boston Public Schools. It was after he was fired from the Boston Public Schools for reading Langston Hughes poetry to his class that he was thrust into the limelight and became a more prominent figure on the Boston civil rights scene.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jonathan_Kozol

[proud2BlibKansan]

1. His latest book:

Today's most eloquent spokesman for America's disenfranchised," Jonathan Kozol visited nearly sixty public schools and discovered that conditions have grown worse for inner-city children in the fifteen years since federal courts began dismantling the landmark ruling in Brown v. Board of Education. The Shame of the Nation is a triumph of firsthand reporting that pays tribute to those undefeated educators who persist against the odds, but directly challenges the chilling practices now being forced upon our urban systems by the Bush administration. In their place, Kozol offers a humane, dramatic challenge to our nation to fulfill at last the promise made some fifty years ago to all our youngest citizens.

http://www.powells.com/biblio/62-1400052440-0

[Strawman]

2. He's a great man

His books are heartbreaking and inspiring at the same time. I didn't know he had a new one out. Thanks for this post. I will check it out when my reading load from school lightens a bit.

[proud2BlibKansan]

3. Have you read Savage Inequalities?

Best explanation I have ever read of how schools are financed.