Jonathan Kozol Essay

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Jonathan Kozol discussed his newest book titled, Fire in the Ashes. Kozol explains how he went back to the inner-city school he taught at in the Bronx, New York and the children he once taught grew up into a successful adulthood after struggling as a young child. In particularly in his presentation he talks about a young girl, Pineapple, who grew up in an extremely low-income neighborhood. She comes to school with 40 other children in her class and does not receive the attention she deserves as a young growing child. Kozol tells how little Pineapple’s parents decided that they needed to send their little girl to a school where she would actually progress and learn curriculum that she needed. Pineapple goes on to become very successful businesswomen and does well in her adulthood. As mentioned before, Jonathan Kozol communicates that the classroom sizes in children’s school years are a critical part of their learning. In the younger grades it is significant to have the one on one attention each child deserves. It is shown that children tend to do better in the lower grades when the class sizes are reduced so that they get the one on one. When children are new in the school setting, having the smaller classes allows them to feel safe in the classroom as well as get to know the teacher quicker than they would in a larger classroom with more kids. Another issue Jonathan Kozol talked about was the smell in the classrooms he went and visited. He said “the smell of the classroom and cafeteria stick in a child’s memory.” Classrooms in the low-income neighborhoods smell musty and old which is creating a memory for the children of a dirty school. The children get a feeling that people do not care and that they should not try. Mr. Kozol also talks about the parents getting involved in children’s education. When parents get involved and actually care about the child’s progress
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