“Even a hint of mockery not of the white kids them selves but of the situation that seems slightly artificial and contrived to them and is also, as they surely recognize, a one-time shot that will not change the lives they lead when they return to the South Bronx” (Kozol P.17)

This quote is refereeing to when the pastor takes some children to inter-racial gatherings. I can see the good in doing something like this, but I believe this quote shows how ignorant educators and officials can be. What I mean by that is, these at risk kids are smarter then we give them credit for. They see the gathering as a hoax, a joke, a day away from school. Like I said there could be good in this, it has the ability to touch a few children, but I don’t believe that it even speaks to the over all bigger issue of segregated schools and unfair slenderized test determining what schools will receive money and which ones wont effectively driving away good, open minded educators away, which will inevitably create a downward spiral for these schools.

“If you want to see a really segregated school in the United States today, start by looking for school that's named for Martin Luther King, or Rosa Parks” (Kozol P.24)

The numbers on this page are pretty shocking! Numbers like 98% black, 99% Black and Hispanic, etc. but as I think about it...how shocking is it really. I went to school with the student population was 99% white the rest were Asian and a few Blacks (I graduated with 1 Black kids in my class, growing up in NY, Suffolk County Long Island) . So if I grew up in a white suburb, then the opposite must be true. So what was really shocking about this quote is how shocking it shouldn’t be. I also realized how closed off I was from their reality as much as the Black and Hispanic children in these schools are to what was my reality growing up.

Residential segregation in New York City area, they note, remains today at the same level as in 1960, a remarkable statistic that belies the myth of gradual but steady progress that is frequently suggested by the media” states “do little to enforce fair housing laws” (Kozol P.32)

I do believe that class-ism and race-ism go hand in hand, especially in our segregated school system. This to me is one of those backwards ways a group gets what they want, create an equal housing right...but do nothing to enforce it. We just watched Tim Wise in class and he pointed out that in 2006 there was the most complaints about equal housing ever since it was first put in place. This to me proves that there was never true enforcement of the law, and when privileged ( people in power, in this case land and living quarters owners) started realizing that they took advantage...and seem that they still are.

“We do not have the same things you have. You have Clean things. We do not have. You have a clean bathroom. We do not have that. You have Parks and we do not have Parks. You have all the things and we do not have all the thing....Can you help us?” (Kozol P.39) & “ four kindergarten classes and a sixth grade class packed into a single room that had no windows.”

I put these two quotes together because it shows both sides of how much a disadvantage these children are. The first one speaks to how smart the kids are and a young age, how they can start to see their own reality and essential creating a feeling of acceptance that this is what life is and all it will ever be. The second quote truly re-enforces that idea, if a school can actually operate like that and find it acceptable then they are feeding what these children have already cemented into their lives. Why should they feel like the can succeed, I wouldn’t if I was in that situation.

“In NYC, for example, affluent parents pay surprisingly large sums of money to enroll their youngsters in extraordinary early-education programs, typically beginning at the age of two or three, that give them social competence and rudimentary pedagogic skills unknown to children of the same age in the city's poorer neighborhoods...“Baby Ivies” cost as much as $22,000 for a full-day program.” (Kozol P.50)

With all sorts of racism’s present in today’s world class-ism is present in this quote. There are available early-education programs available to everyone...everyone who can pay that is. A few paragraphs after this quote states that in middle and upper class suburbs more then three quarters attended early-education programs, in poor urban areas “only an handful.” essentially what is going on is the rich will succeed and get richer and the poor will stay where they are. And it all starts at earl-education give people of privilege a distinct advantage.

“The principal didn't ask the Level Ones to raise their hands according to the teacher... It's like the Level Ones weren't even there”

I had two reactions when I read this, first was WOW. The principal of all people, goes to show how much a business of test taking education has become. My second reaction was “If I was labeled as a Level One, and that happened, what exactly would my motivation be to move out of this Level One status. Probably nothing” Like I said earlier in this blog, these kids are smarter then we know, maybe not in the ways the educators consider smart. But these children know when they have been given up on. And when the principal gives up on you its could seem like all is lost.