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The Shame of the Nation: The Restoration of Apartheid Schooling in America Audiobook
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(4.00) - 2,308 listener ratings
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“The nation needs to be confronted with the crime that we’re committing and the promises we are betraying. This is a book about betrayal of the young, who have no power to defend themselves. It is not intended to make readers comfortable.” Over the past several years, Jonathan Kozol has visited nearly 60 public schools. Virtually everywhere, he finds that conditions have grown worse for inner-city children in the 15 years since federal courts began dismantling the landmark ruling in Brown v. Board of Education. First, a state of nearly absolute apartheid now prevails in thousands of our schools. The segregation of black children has reverted to a level that the nation has not seen since 1968. Few of the students in these schools know white children any longer. Second, a protomilitary form of discipline has now emerged, modeled on stick-and-carrot methods of behavioral control traditionally used in prisons but targeted exclusively at black and Hispanic children. And third, as high-stakes testing takes on pathological and punitive dimensions, liberal education in our inner-city schools has been increasingly replaced by culturally barren and robotic methods of instruction that would be rejected out of hand by schools that serve the mainstream of society. Filled with the passionate voices of children and their teachers and some of the most revered and trusted leaders in the black community, The Shame of the Nation is a triumph of firsthand reporting that pays tribute to those undefeated educators who persist against the odds, but directly challenges the chilling practices now being forced upon our urban systems by the Bush administration. In their place, Kozol offers a humane, dramatic challenge to our nation to fulfill at last the promise made some 50 years ago to all our youngest citizens. From The Shame of the Nation “I went to Washington to challenge the soft bigotry of low expectations,” the president said in his campaign for reelection in September 2004. “It’s working. It’s making a difference.” It is one of those deadly lies, which, by sheer repetition, is at length accepted by large numbers of Americans as, perhaps, a rough approximation of the truth. But it is not the truth, and it is not an innocent misstatement of the facts. It is a devious appeasement of the heartache of the parents of the poor and, if it is not forcefully resisted and denounced, it is going to lead our nation even further in a perilous direction. Also available as a Random House AudioBook and an eBook
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"If Jonathan Kozol's book doesn't make you angry, then you aren't paying attention. In "The Shame of the Nation," Kozol outlines how schools have been re-segregated since the Reagan administration, and how these urban, highly minority schools have been underfunded and undercut by federal, state, and local governments. Comparing funding, curriculum, and access of those in poor urban areas to those in middle-class and wealthy suburban areas, Kozol highlights the injustices done to students living in these areas. He also points to a true racial segregation, even in urban districts, some schools having nearly 100% minority students, while another in the same district has a student body which is nearly 100% white."
— Mark (5 out of 5 stars)
Quotes
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“Segregation is back, and only a writer of Jonathan Kozol’s wisdom and passion can assess its terrible price, one child at a time.”
— Barbara Ehrenreich, New York Times bestselling author -
“A vividly written account from the front lines of ‘apartheid education.’ It is impossible not to share Kozol’s outrage.”
— Chicago Tribune -
“A call for activism, The Shame of the Nation firmly grounds school-reform issues in the thorny context of race and concludes that the nation has failed to deliver.”
— Washington Post -
“Narrator Robertson Dean is magnificent as Kozol’s voice. His rumbling baritone conveys the ominous tone inherent in the text, but he also injects a hopeful lightness to his reading when we hear about urban teachers who fight the bureaucracy and effectively teach children. Dean uses exceptional pacing, and he interprets the author’s words with authority and passion.
— AudioFile
The Shame of the Nation Listener Reviews
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" I have very mixed feelings about this book. It is extremely well written and I greatly admire Jonathan Kozol's work but the content is so upsetting. The whole time I was reading it I had to spout out the unhappy statistics to anyone who was near me. This country needs to overhaul it's education system. There are children falling through the cracks all the time and it just isn't fair. If this is how we educate our children what will the future be like when they are in charge and are completely unprepared? "
— Angie, 1/21/2014 -
" Informative, but definitely pushing a political agenda that I'm not too sure I agree with. "
— Lho1987, 1/19/2014 -
" i only made it about halfway through. the stories of inner-city kids being screwed by the system are heart-breaking and infuriating. and i get that that is the author's intention: to make up pay attention to these kids' stories that might otherwise not get told. but you can only read so much of that before you are like, "ok, i get it, now tell me what to do about it." i could have used a side helping of solutions along with course after course of problems. "
— Emily, 1/15/2014 -
" Amazing! This is seriously a must-read for everyone. It is staggering to see what is really happening in our urban school systems. "
— Rebekah, 1/14/2014 -
" Segregation in public schools is at the same rates since the 50's and 60's. "
— Ryan, 1/3/2014 -
" Good read...particularly if you are invested in America's (often misguided) system of education (at any level K-12 or higher education). "
— Georgianna, 1/2/2014 -
" A book that describes in great detail the class and race divide that has a stranglehold on education. The book can be a bit bogged down in statistics, but they help to put a solid foundation under the individual stories about students and schools and teachers and principals that Kozol deftly expresses. The effect is that you care about each kid Kozol meets, and then realize that this isn't the case of one or two (or one or two thousand) kids. It's the case of an entire system. Every teacher should read this. Again, no solution is provided for you; there's no easy answer to this problem. We are responsible for finding one. "
— Katie, 12/30/2013 -
" Kozol does an excellent job of providing an in-depth investigation into the inequalities resulting from school segregation. I just wish he had devoted equal time to proposing viable solutions that his readers could implement rather than the few recommendations interspersed among the sordid details. "
— Elyssa, 12/29/2013 -
" powerful, insane to face the realities of US public schools "
— Nina, 11/23/2013 -
" This book made me re-evaluate a lot of my thinking when it comes to education. It was sad because most of the data collected for this book was collected in the mid to late 90's and you find yourself speechless as you turn the pages. "
— Hooma, 9/29/2013 -
" This one is for school, but it has some interesting information/opinions on segregation in schools. Basically, it claims schools are no longer desegregated, but actually are going through a process of resegregation, which is moslty occurring in urban, low income areas. "
— Gail, 6/22/2013 -
" Kozol writes a lot of books like this. He is an amazing journalist, and he really gets to know the people and topics that he writes about. It reminded me a lot of the other book /i read by him, Savage Inequalities, which I think i actually prefered. "
— Rachel, 5/26/2013 -
" THe book has it's good points but the aunthor repeats himself too much. Saying once or twice was enough to make the point. The book is way too long "
— Paula, 4/25/2013 -
" Unlike China, in America, education isn't as an important part of most people's lives. As someone who was exposed to the Portuguese public education system, I wasn't that surprised at Kozol's descriptions. I hope this book made a difference and the education system may be improving. "
— Ke, 4/14/2013 -
" Kozol definitely makes some great points about the inequities of schools in chapter 1. And chapter 2. And 3. And 4. And done. "
— John, 3/30/2012 -
" Kozol spends an equal amount of time examining the root causes for the re-segregation of America's school as well as the on-the-ground effects that re-segregation has wrought. "
— Khinna, 11/18/2011 -
" "Shame of the Nation" focuses on the growing apartheid in American schools. I learned a lot from reading this book, and I will probably read it again at some point. "
— Mary, 11/6/2011 -
" I had a hard time choosing between 2 and 3 stars. This was a very interesting topic, a topic I care very deeply about. However, I kept getting frustrated with the writing style itself. I thought this book could have been better organized. "
— Spencergus, 4/22/2011 -
" Very, very good, frightening and depressing, will make you angry. Does not give you hope for the future. Cannot believe the stories Kozol tells, but they are facts, and they are disturbing. "
— Jim, 3/27/2011 -
" Interesting views of problems within inner city schools and how those students are not given equal opportunities in our education system. "
— Erin, 3/3/2011 -
" This book should be required reading for all people who have an opinion on schools in America. "
— Amy, 1/15/2011 -
" Kozol's most memorable contribution to the public school debate has to do with his framing high-stakes testing as supporting the seperate-but-equal philosophy of Plessy vs. Ferguson rather than the spirit of integration represented by Brown vs. the Board of Education. Absolutely dead on. "
— Scott, 8/1/2010 -
" If you've read one Kozol book, you've essentially read them all. However, this one has a tone to it that expresses the anger and urgency that is needed to bring education reform to this despicable system. "
— Matthew, 7/29/2010 -
" Another book that everyone involved in education policy should read (and an engaging and worthwhile read for anyone else too). Kozol is a powerful storyteller, vividly illustrating the education (or lack thereof) being provided to disadvantaged children and tying it to broader policy issues. "
— Emily, 7/18/2010 -
" This book is a MUST read for ALL!! "
— Emily, 5/19/2010 -
" Is it indulgent to read something that you know you'll agree with? I want to write things like this when I grow up. "
— Jill, 3/17/2010
About Jonathan Kozol
Jonathan Kozol is the author of Death at an Early Age, winner of the National Book Award, as well as the New York Times bestsellers Savage Inequalities, Amazing Grace, and other award-winning books about young children and their public schools. He travels and lectures about educational inequality and racial injustice.
About Robertson Dean
Robertson Dean has played leading roles on and off Broadway and at dozens of regional theaters throughout the country. He has a BA from Tufts University and an MFA from Yale. His audiobook narration has garnered ten AudioFile Earphones Awards. He now lives in Los Angeles, where he works in film and television in addition to narrating.