In many of the high schools in the South Bronx, more children will end up in prison than will go to college.
Interpretation
The quote points out the stark reality of educational and social challenges faced by children in the South Bronx.
This quote by Jonathan Kozol highlights the alarming situation in many high schools in the South Bronx, where systemic issues result in a greater likelihood of children ending up in prison rather than pursuing higher education. It underscores the profound impact of socioeconomic factors and the urgent need for reform in the education and justice systems to ensure that every child has the opportunity to succeed and thrive.
In practice
This quote can be used in a discussion about the education reform needed in struggling communities.
A great deal has been written in recent years about the purported lack of motivation in the children of the Negro ghettos. Little in my experience supports this, yet the phrase has been repeated endlessly, and the blame in almost all cases is placed somewhere outside the classroom.
Schooling should not be left to the whim or wealth of village elders. I believe that we should fund all schools in the U.S. with our national resources. All these kids are being educated to be Americans, not citizens of Minneapolis or San Francisco.
An awful lot of people come to college with this strange idea that there's no longer segregation in America's schools, that our schools are basically equal; neither of these things is true.
Hypersegregated inner-city schools - in which one finds no more than five or ten white children, at the very most, within a student population of as many as 3,000 - are the norm, not the exception, in most northern urban areas today.
I wrote the first book, and I thought people would say: 'Separate and unequal schools in the City of Boston? I didn't know that. Let's go out and fix it.'
The trouble is not that schools don't work; they do. They're excellent machines for achieving historically accepted purposes. In suburban schools are children of the rich, who grow up to privilege and anesthetic oblivion to pain - and who then use the servants produced by ghetto schools.
Just like becoming an expert in wine, you learn by drinking it, the best you can afford.
I have now a library of nearly nine hundred volumes, over seven hundred of which I wrote myself.
Sleep is good, he said, And books are better.
One of the marks of a great teacher lies not only in an ability to impart knowledge but also in knowing when to encourage a student to go off on his own.
Negative gender stereotypes related to girls' education in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics begin as early as primary school and have the devastating effect of making them doubt their own potential.
During the first few months of an infant's life, its manner of taking the breast, of laying its head on the pillow, etc., becomes crystallized into imperative habits. This is why education must begin in the cradle.
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