The Miami University Lecture Series Committee hosted non-fiction writer, educatoR, and social justice advocate, Jonathan Kozol on Monday night in Hall Auditorium. For those of you who missed this enlightening lecture, HC Miami has the recap
“Teachers are my heroes,” Kozol said as he began his lecture entitled, “The Shame of the Nation: Public Education Still Separate, Still Unequal,” during which Kozol discussed his life journey while integrating the advocacies he has been working towards for nearly 50 years now.
Kozol began his career journey following his graduation from Harvard University in 1958 with a degree in English Literature. He received the Rhodes Scholarship to Magdalen College in Oxford, England, which he joked must have been a mistake. He did not, however, finish at Magdalen College and instead took off for Paris where he met experienced authors such as William Styron and Richard Wright who taught him about writing.
When he returned to the United States in 1964, the time period of the civil rights movement, he revealed he was a part of the Freedom Summer movement on Miami’s campus, formerly known as the Western College for Women. Three students died on their infamous journey to Mississippi to aid black voter registration and volunteer in “freedom schools,” one of which was a close friend of Kozol’s.
“That’s why coming back here to Miami touches me so deeply,” Kozol said, reminiscing about his experiences with the Freedom Summer movement.
This event altered his original plans to return to Harvard to be a Professor. Instead, he returned to his hometown of Boston, where he started as a substitute kindergarten teacher in the Boston Public Schools.
“To me they were like gerbils, crawling all over me,” he said, as the crowd laughed. After Kozol was promoted to a permanent teacher, he went on to teach in Mott Haven, in the south of the Bronx in New York City, one of the poorest cities in America. He wrote several books during his time here about his experiences, including “Shame of the Nation” and “Amazing Grace”. Kozol took a minute to remember some of the students he had here, who died young, having fallen “into desperation by their early adolescence.”
He blamed the inadequate school system as a factor leading up to their deaths.
“There are thousands and thousands more kids in other cities all across the land who do not die in a literal sense, but die within,” Kozol said. “Die within their hearts and minds because of the savage inequalities in public schools.”
Kozol periodically reverted back to discussing the Civil Rights, recounting a time when he walked with Dr. King as one of his body guards. “I still believe that Dr. King was right…and that the great court decision of Brown vs. Board was right” Kozol said, adding that schools are more segregated now than ever. “Cincinnati is the eighth most segregated in the nation.” Kozol also mentioned former Ohio Governor, Bob Taft, sharing Taft’s refusal to equalize funding in Ohio Schools and his personal experiences while meeting him.
Kozol quoted his wealthy friends, who frequently ask him, “Can you really solve this kind of problem by throwing money at it?” To which his short answer was yes. According to Kozol, this will help principals reduce the size of classes, allowing teachers to give students more individual attention or allow a school to build a new library.
“Preschool is terribly important,” Kozol said, while comparing the average amount spent on an upper middle class child’s school experience to an impoverished child’s. He noted an extreme case in which some families he knows in New York City spend roughly $30,000 a year for their child just to attend pre-K. “The damage of denying pre-K is unspeakable.”
“In spite of everything, I always look for hope,” Kozol said, as he transitioned to the inspirational story of a girl who he nicknamed Pineapple. Kozol met Pineapple when she was six years old and has been part of her educational journey until present day. He discussed Pineapple’s story in length, using her as an example of the many inequalities underprivileged children still face today, and how Pineapple was able to overcome them. Pineapple’s full story is discussed in Kozol’s latest book, “Fire in the Ashes”.
Additionally, Kozol spoke of his well-known friend, Mr. Rogers, recounting a time when he visited a Boston school with Mr. Rogers, which delighted both the teachers and children. While not a light-hearted subject to discuss, Kozol’s stories and ideals were well received, judging from the applause, laughter, and sympathetic sighs he elicited. Before Kozol opened up his lecture for questions, he left the audience with a final piece of advice that can resonate with everyone at Miami University beyond the hundreds of people who attended his lecture:
“Life goes fast, use it well.”