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The Shame of the Nation: The Restoration of Apartheid Schooling in America Paperback – August 1, 2006

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Jonathan Kozol (Author)
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Jonathan Kozol (Author)
4.0 out of 5 stars 94 customer reviews
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  • The Shame of the Nation: The Restoration of Apartheid Schooling in America
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Product Details

  • Paperback: 432 pages
  • Publisher: Broadway Books; Reprint edition (August 1, 2006)
  • Language: English
  • ISBN-10: 1400052459
  • ISBN-13: 978-1400052455
  • Product Dimensions: 5.1 x 0.9 x 8 inches
  • Shipping Weight: 11.2 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
  • Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (94 customer reviews)
  • Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #8,239 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Top Customer Reviews

5.0 out of 5 starsClass, Race and Willful ignorance
By N. Richardson on September 28, 2005
Format: Hardcover
It is noted that those who make the choice to attack the book on the basis of their own ideological biases, seem to have serious problems with honesty (they didn't actually read the book) or exhibit for all the world to see that they are unable to grasp a fairly simple thesis: that segregation in our public schools damages children.

Jonathan Kozol has spent the last forty something years observing on a first hand basis the tragedy of how our educational system has failed those who might most benefit from going to clean, well-equipped schools, where every child has a desk, a chair and materials....as well as a decently trained professional educator dedicated to imparting knowledge to them.

It is one thing to blame the poor for their conditions, it is quite another to consign small children to rotten schools on the basis of their luck in not being born into the right race or class. It would seem the only compassion worthy of the conservatives who write reviews for books they can't be bothered to read is feeling sorry for a failed scheme like No Child Left Behind. That, and gratuious attacks on teachers unions. Talk radio propaganda< however, is not a good foundation for book criticism.

Kozol, a man of extraordinary decency and insight into the inequities of our educational system, doesn't base his theories on statistics and thinktank framing. He goes into the schools he writes about, and talks to the kids who are consigned to them, the teachers who have to make do with impossible conditions, and parents fighting for their kids.

Kozol just reports what he sees, and writes movingly and gracefully about those who will pay the price of the criminal neglect our society seems to think is acceptable. The stories he tells are heartbreaking.Read more ›
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4.0 out of 5 starsOur schools are now more segregated than ever
By Robin Orlowski on September 18, 2005
Format: Hardcover
Jonathan Kozol uses his background in public education and keen wit to deliver another scathing, needed, and largely accurate critique of American public schooling.

In the sequel to his 'Savage Inequalities', he argues that patterns of socioeconomic stratification paired with standardized testing fever are creating and maintaining disparate education systems which are recreating segregated schooling.

Mostly white children in 'nice' suburbs have clean and safe schools with a curriculum that stimulates their interests and creativity. Meanwhile, predominantly black and Hispanic children are consigned to attend run-down inner city schools whose administrators and staff (even the 'good and caring' ones) must spend the scant money they do receive on rote memorization.

Socioeconomic discrepancy will subsequently be used to track those students into an altogether different set of life opportunities.

In addition to economics, Kozol heaps blame at the rise of standardized testing programs. Instituted with the then-idealistic idea they would help schools, teachers, and parents proactively diagnose "learning problems" so all students could then achieve, these programs have instead become a tool in creating and reinforcing the disparities.

Students unable to pass the testing program become branded as 'failure' subsequently limiting their academic and other future options---all on the results of one piece of paper. Examining the current high-stakes test-centric enviroment, it is difficult to believe that this public policy originated as a program intended to help all children.

'Whose children are being helped in America's schools with our current policies?Read more ›
24 Comments 98 people found this helpful. Was this review helpful to you? Yes No Sending feedback...
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5.0 out of 5 starsNobody wants to see or hear this
By Free State on September 27, 2005
Format: Hardcover
A compelling look at the disparity in our educational system. In some parts of this country there is a disparity in annual expenditure per pupil WITHIN THE SAME CITY of $9,000. Nearly every city has an unacceptable disparity. The poor in this nation stay poor because they are denied an equal chance to better themselves - starting at age 5.

The money spent on the bogus No Child Left Behind could and should instead be spent to level the playing field for all students.

Ignoring poverty and blaming the poor is all too popular in America these days, but how can a child escape the cycle of poverty if they don't have the same access to education?

I don't believe that anyone could actually have read this book and still believe that the poor in America are poor because they don't try as hard as the rest of us. The better-off keep these people down by refusing to educate them.

No Child Left Behind is a sham. I know: I work for a software company that makes the tests, scores them, and supports the teachers and administrators who administer these tests. It is simple window dressing by the current administration. I have yet to meet a teacher, administrator or parent who believes NCLB accomplishes a thing for the students. The teachers already KNOW which kids are underperforming. Race and poverty are the biggest predictors of NCLB test scores. Duh! The money being spent to show what is already known could be spent to improve the worst public schools. We waste money measuring students to find out what we already know, instead of spending money to improve their education.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews

5.0 out of 5 starsFive Stars

Nice book

Published 7 days ago by BaB
4.0 out of 5 starsBest

Purchased for a class. Best price

Published 1 month ago by J. Swafford
5.0 out of 5 starsFive Stars

Great book, it arrived in timely matter.

Published 2 months ago by student2011
5.0 out of 5 starsFive Stars

Excellent book

Published 5 months ago by Amazon Customer
3.0 out of 5 starsSiiiigh. I had to get this for a class ...

Siiiigh. I had to get this for a class I was taking.

Published 6 months ago by Kindle Customer
3.0 out of 5 starsThree Stars

I had to read this for school, it was okay.

Published 8 months ago by Marie
5.0 out of 5 starsFive Stars

Kept my copy

Published 10 months ago by Roxy30
1.0 out of 5 starsThe Shame of an Eternal Lie

Once again, Kozol repeats his favorite, seminal lie about black and poor districts being ‘underfunded’

The story goes that urban school districts can't give their... Read more

Published 10 months ago by Rod Allison
3.0 out of 5 starsPreachy Jonathan Kozol is great at seeing the problem

Preachy Jonathan Kozol is great at seeing the problem, but extremely weak at offering solutions. The fact is that one-size-fits-none, cookie-cutter solutions to education will... Read more

Published 10 months ago by Randell Phalp
4.0 out of 5 starsI took a star of because the writer goes on some unnecessary rants...

This is a very interesting book to read as much of the problems that we all may be aware of in the school system in urban areas a described very well. Read more

Published 11 months ago by Dereck C.

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