Savage Inequalities

Jonathan Kozol's book "Savage Inequalities" is perhaps the most famous book written on education in the past 50 years. Basically in each chapter he looks at two public schools both in the same city - one might have no toilet paper while the other has an indoor swimming pool. How can it be that public schools could be funded so unequally? Have you ever noticed this phenomenon in places you have lived or visited? Should all public schools be funded equally?

Ruby Payne

Ruby Payne has made a business out of tourning the country speaking to schools about the "culture of poverty". Many people love her and many people detest her. What is it about her theories that you would imagine would upset so many people?

Moving beyond the bad news

• So much of a child’s personality and skills are set in the early years. It is kind of depressing when you are a middle or high school teacher. But should we throw up our hands and say there is nothing we can do? What hope do we have with a student who has had low grades for years and has lost all motivation?
• What ideas do you have after reading the chapter and listening to the TAL episode about how we can better help our students succeed in life?

Who is a "good parent"?

I have a big problem with both the Gladwell chapter and the TAL story. While they make important points, they can’t help but make it sound like middle and upper class people are good parents and lower class people are bad parents. But here is what I think is actually the case: middle and upper class people have more power, and they created this society and our schools. So naturally kids who are raised in homes that mimic this society and its schools are going to fit into them better and be more successful. If lower class children and their parents moved to a culture that rewarded people who have the traits associated with their parenting style, they would be more successful than a middle class child in that society. The founder of the Harlem Children’s Zone clearly thinks it would be easier to help low income parents change their parenting style than to change our schools and society, and he’s probably right. But do you see how this is unfair? What do you think of my theory?

Increasing time on task for success

If “time on task” is key to success, how can you increase that time? The best artists are those who have spent the most time practicing art. The best historians are those who have watched the most history channel, spent the most time pouring over primary documents, read the most historical fiction. The best writers are those who have written the most and gotten the best feedback on their writing. How can you help students put in more hours in your subject? And perhaps more importantly, how can you get them interested enough that they are willing to put in the time?

Being "Smart"

Students tend to believe that being smart is something you are born with and they believe only the smart people are successful. How can you help them realize that these are myths? How can you help them see that “smart” is mostly a matter of how many hours you put in and that often people who seem really smart aren’t successful and those people thought weren’t so smart do great?

The Matthew Effect

1) What can you do to help your students who have suffered the Matthew Effect? What can you do for those who, through some stroke of bad luck, got behind early on and then received less and less while the seemingly “brighter” students got more and more?