Jonathan Kozol, a Harvard University scholar, witnessed the travesty of racial segregation within the inner city public educational system. After many years of teaching and exposure to substandard classrooms with dilapidated furniture, a shortage of materials to engage a pupil’s mind and a disproportionate diversity ratio, he could no longer tolerate the conditions in which he was surrounded. Kozol’s frustration compelled him to become a staunch advocate for disadvantaged children so that they might receive equal rights to a quality education.
It was during his time as an educator that Kozol obtained direct knowledge of the educational system’s misrepresentation of the true definition of the word diversity. This prompted the writer to investigate the statistics. Furthermore, he visited several schools and compiled data based on his own research. Kozol discovered that the records did not accurately reflect the claims made and reported, “In New York and California, seven out of every eight black students presently attend a segregated school”. This inaccuracy was not only limited to racial imbalance but in the coursework being taught under the misnomer of diversity. He references that while the inspirational lessons of such pioneers as Ruby Bridges, the first black student integrated into an all-white elementary school in 1960, Linda Brown who was appointed to the NAACP to integrate schools and civil rights activist, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. were being taught in schools, a visual scan of the room, would provide evidence that little change had been made since the historical events lived by these iconic representatives of freedom and equality.
Consequently, Kozol authored several award winning books motivated by these inexcusable conditions. In one of his books titled, The Shame of the Nation, he compares the amount of money invested into each inner city student as roughly $11,000 while students in more affluent communities, were allocated twice that amount. He associated these figures as directly relational to the rate of student success or failure. Kozol further supports this detail by pointing out that schools serving the minority groups have a 60% or less graduation rate.
In agreement with his findings, Kozol writes a letter to Francesca, a fellow educator, in which he affirms her bold...