Many of those who argue for vouchers say that they simply want to use competition to improve public education. I dont think it works that way, and Ive been watching this for a longtime. – Jonathan Kozol
If you grow up in the South Bronx today or in south-central Los Angeles or Pittsburgh or Philadelphia, you quickly come to understand that you have been set apart and that theres no will in this society to bring you back into the mainstream. – Jonathan Kozol
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. – Jonathan Kozol
By far the most important factor in the success or failure of any school, far more important than tests or standards or business-model methods of accountability, is simply attracting the best-educated, most exciting young people into urban schools and keeping them there. – Jonathan Kozol