BATTER DOWN THE WALLS with JONATHAN KOZOL

A Rhodes Scholar, former fourth grade teacher, and passionate advocate for child-centered learning, Jonathan Kozol is one of the most widely read and highly honored education writers in the nation.

In our conversation on today’s show, Jonathan offers a sneak preview of his latest book, not yet in print, called Batter Down the Walls. In it he makes a compelling argument that children have a right to be protected from the robotic methods of instruction and destructive forms of discipline that have been accepted in all too many schools that serve our poorest kids of color. Jonathan believes we need to reimagine the aims of education as something more than “testable proficiencies.” Indeed there needs to be a cultural awakening that empowers children with critical discernment of an unjust status quo, and the will to batter down the racist walls that make us strangers to each other.

The situation is hard, but Jonathan has good news to share about a long-standing inter-district integration program with proven results! (This photo of Jonathan with a student called Pineapple in Mott Haven, Bronx was the cover image from Kozol’s 2000 national bestseller Ordinary Resurrections.)

NOTES

Learn more about Jonathan Kozol and his six decades of work here. His op-ed on Biden and integration from The Nation magazine that I mention in the historical note sidebar is here. Audio of then-Senator Harris comes from PBS.

Award-winning pianist Gil Scott Chapman, a veteran contributor to Point of Learning soundtracks, performs his rendition of James Taylor’s “Shed a Little Light,” a song inspired by MLK, whose legacy Jonathan and I discuss in the episode. Also featured are original pieces based on Mississippi blues player Mose Allison. Hear more GSC on his SoundCloud.

Josh Lerner was so good at guitar when he was still in high school 20 years ago that I hired him to give me lessons. Josh was inspired by Kozol’s The Shame of the Nation (2005) at the start of his teaching career. His day job is now teacher and education leader in Chicago, but on this episode he plays original arrangements (sometimes duets where he plays both parts): "Careless Love" is a traditional song with several popular blues versions that has been called a nineteenth-century ballad and Dixieland standard. "Deportee" is a protest song with music by Martin Hoffman. Woody Guthrie's lyrics (not featured in this instrumental version) describe a 1948 plane crash and the racist treatment of the migrant farm workers who were victims of the accident. According to Library of Congress archivist Maya Lerman, "Freight Train" was written by folk musician Elizabeth Cotten when she was only 11 or 12, inspired by the train that stopped in Carrboro, North Carolina, which she could watch and hear from her home.

SPECIAL THANKS

The unsung hero of this episode is Amy Ehntholt, a great mutual friend of Jonathan and me who eventually prevailed upon Jonathan to accept my annual invitations!

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