Customer Reviews

Letters to a Young Teacher

5 star:		(6)
4 star:		(7)
3 star:		(4)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

This is a worthwhile read. There are ideas, which, while not exactly new, are refreshing--for example: the assertion that teaching is an art, not a science and that the creativity and personality of the teacher matter (allowing a sort of alchemy to take place). Kozol's comments on teachers' enslavement to standardized tests and to teaching standards in general certainly resonated for me. Having said that, I found the tone of the book occasionally pretentious and the format--only Kozol's letters to the teacher and not the teacher's missives to him---rather forced and artificial. This is not Rilke's Letters to a Young Poet, on which, I suspect, Kozol's text is modeled. I think collection of personal essays would have been a more natural fit.

At this writing, this book is averaging four stars in terms of reviews, and I think that's about right. As a high school English teacher, I found some sections--especially those regarding standardized testing and how public education does not address the needs of poor children--quite compelling and validating. However, as another reviewer mentioned, I had difficulty with Kozol's tone at times, which seems just a bit condescending and does not match the acceptance and warmth he alleges to share with children. Well, I suppose there are those of us who get on much better with young people than we do adults. I do appreciate Kozol's wisdom and especially his willingness to toss aside what administrators dictate and teach in a manner that is in the best interest of the children. That is perhaps the most abiding lesson in this book.

As one who works with teachers and visits inner city school classrooms on a regular basis, I can say that Jonathan Kozol accurately describes the problems in our schools today. He convincingly demonstrates that "No Child Left Behind" not only fails to promote real, sustainable school reform, but actually supports the forces driving schools (and society) back to segregation and inequality not so different from the time before Brown vs. the Board of Education. At the same time, his letters celebrate the many ways that innovative teachers instill hope and a love of learning in their young charges, despite these conditions. Every teacher would find some value in this book, because practices like the ones Kozol describes are not taught in many schools of education today.

This book is an inspiration for teachers, young and seasoned, people thinking of going into teaching and even retired teachers like myself!It is never too late to realize that the problems of inner city schools are huge but not insurmountable. Kozol makes an eloquent case.

I'm a teacher, among other things, and always looking to do better in that part of my career. And, although I've been teaching for a number of years, I consider myself inexperienced and eager to learn from others' experience. Reading this book brought at least three surprises: the first, something of a disappointment; the second, an overwhelming sense of admiration; the third, a furious outrage.

I teach at the college level - mostly grad students, so far, but an undergrad class this term. My disappointment lay in finding that this describes the experiences of an early-primary teacher. Her 'leaky little people,' the six year olds in her classes, have little in common with my students. I already know I lack the patience to work well with a room full of small children, so I almost put the book down when I found out how it was oriented. It just doesn't say a lot to my experience or aspirations. Still, I persevered.

That led to the second and most rewarding of the surprises I found in this book. I genuinely admire anyone with talents I lack, the knack for effectiveness with children being just one. Still, reading this gave me a new a more profound respect for those thousands of women and men who, outside of family, are the most important people in our children's lives. I know that people find themselves drawn to teaching young children. I didn't understand just how deep within a person lies the source of that urge. Kozol's letters to a real but pseudonymous Francesca show that in two ways. First, the passion to teach, to be part of children's lives, is as omnipresent in their worlds as air and gravity are in mine - and as essential to their lives. The calling to teach (Kozol's word, not mine) underlies all other thoughts and choices in their lives as much as religious calling underlies a monastic life. Second, this passion remains even in the most horrific conditions, and despite policies seemingly designed to crush out whatever spirit moves successful teachers and students forward together.

That, in turn, opened the third of this book's surprises, the one that left me horrified and furious. Kozol describes his own experience of a school physically falling down around the students - and, if not for Kozol's fast reflexes, onto at least one. It's not just that inner-city schools have walls and windows that would never pass an ordinary building inspection, or that their texts are yellowed with decades of age. The outrage comes from the systematic racism that Kozol depicts, infused with bizarre and blatant social falsehoods best described as Orwellian double-think. Kozol gives the example of a school named for Justice Thurgood Marshall, the African-American lawyer who plead the Supreme Court case in which "separate but equal" was struck down as inherently flawed. That school serves community of almost entirely black children, separate from and hardly equal to better-funded schools serving wealthier communities with racial imbalance tilted the other way. And, incidentally, the principal of the Thurgood Marshall school systematically strips it classrooms and libraries of anything that would hint at Marshall's career fighting against social injustice. The gravity of the harm being done to those children makes it almost impossible to unsnarl the interlocked ironies of that situation in a school by that name. But, despite poverty and tyrannical school hierarchy controlling every thing and every moment in those classrooms, the teachers (some, at least) somehow sustain their dedication and affection for the small people trusted to their care. I can only marvel at that level of spiritual endurance - it's so far beyond anything I see in myself that I expect never to understand it.

Like the teachers he describes, Kozol remains dedicated to children's education despite his daily confrontations with lawmakers, politicians, and even educators who push these inequities forward. His dedication seems to strengthen as the conditions and social policies around him worsen - and the book offers lots worse than what I've relayed here. If you have children of your own being educated in public schools, you owe it to yourself and to them to read this book. Behind those facts and figures, however, you will get some sense of the strong and devoted people who not only fight in the trenches against that outrage, but do so with the cheer and gentleness needed to sustain the spirits of the children they care for.

-- wiredweird

"Letters To A Young Teacher" by Jonathan Kozol, its title a reference to a work by Rilke, is a collection of letters that Kozol wrote to a first-year teacher in an inner-city Boston school. It is familiar stomping ground for Kozol, having begun his teaching career in the same setting, and having devoted his life afterwards to spending time with children of poverty in inner-city slums, documenting their lives and the ways in which public education has failed them. Kozol's books are always an enlightening (and sometimes righteously infuriating) read, but "Letters To A Young Teacher" has almost too much repetition from previous works for those who have read other Kozol books.

Kozol's letters are written to a teacher named Francesca during her first year of teaching. In his letters he highlights conversations that they have had and shares his thoughts on visits to her classroom. He includes his own experiences in his responses (often drawing on material that has previously been published) and his thoughts about education reform. Kozol, whose experience ranges over 40 years, is an adept and intelligent advocate for public education reform, and I am grateful that he continues to push for policies that may never be enacted since all too often the people who make decisions regarding education do not have the slightest idea of what would best help the situation. Too many times the choices they do make and the policies they do put in place are much more damaging to young children than they are helpful.

"Letters To A Young Teacher", while a fast read filled with an intelligent and lucid cry for educational advocacy, seems to be missing something. Perhaps it is because we only see Kozol's letters and therefore really do not share in his experiences in Francesca's classroom. Maybe the book would have worked a bit better if it were written to a generic teacher as a book of advice (not that it cannot work this way as it is, since it certainly does). I particularly enjoyed the information highlighting Kozol's relationship with Fred Rogers (of Mr. Rogers' Neighborhood) who was always an advocate of imagination and wonder, a "skill" that cannot be measured by a standardized test but is perhaps one of the most important elements of a child's development. Perhaps someday Kozol's legacy will not be solely limited to the books he wrote seeking educational reform; perhaps one day his words will be put into practice across this nation.

I am still reading this book and am finding it to be very helpful and engaging. It should be inspirational to both young and older teachers alike because it is very hopeful in the message that if the teacher is creative and positive and holds out high expectations for the child, the greatest degree of instruction and learning is nearly always possible to attain and everyone can feel fulfilled. No obstacle is too great to overcome with the right attitude and approach. Any teacher who needs a boost or a push in the right direction should be encouraged to read this book!

Forty-six high school juniors who aspire to become teachers read Letters To A Young Teacher during the 2008 Urban Teacher Academy (UTA) at The College of New Jersey. Our students found many of Jonathan Kozol's insights and experiences very helpful to their understanding of how teachers impact the lives of children. They were inpsired by several heartfelt sentiments and suggestions that Mr. Kozol gave to Francesca, a new teacher confronted by the challenges of the urban classroom. Some of our students reacted that Mr. Kozol rambled in some of his descriptions while others found some of the terminologies in this book complex. On the whole, however, our UTA students enjoyed and highly recommended this book. They plan to read other books by Mr. Kozol who is clearly one of our nation's most accomplished educational authors.

Laurence R. Fieber
Program Coordinator
The Urban Teacher Academy
The College of New Jersey

Jonathan Kozol's Letters to a Young Teacher provides a rare glimpse into the trials and victories faced by a first year teacher in an urban elementary school. Kozol and Francesca have lively dialogue through a series of letters written throughout Francesca's first year as a teacher. Kozol draws on decades of experience to provide hope when Francesca is struggling and cheers her on during times of success. This book is a must read for young teachers venturing into the field of urban education in the United States..

Reading this book for an education course. It is engaging and so far an easy read...looking forward to wirking with children and applying this knowledge in real life.