Critical Analysis Of Jonathan Kozol's On Being A Teacher

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Summary On Being a Teacher by Jonathan Kozol is divided into two parts. Part one is about the actual issues and the actions teachers can take. Part two covers how to organize people into a support system for teachers. Kozol advocates a more honest and successful type of teaching throughout both sections. Kozol perceives a war waging between teachers and the public school system (Kozol, 3). Teachers are trapped victims confined to the two purposes public school is attempting to accomplish. Those two goals include “class stratification and political indoctrination” (Kozol, 7). He believes that students should be aware of what is really being taught so they can react accordingly (Kozol, 9). Schools have removed all sense of self and intense feelings, …show more content…

In “Disobedience Instruction,” Kozol criticizes a teacher who wants a student to find something positive in a book (Kozol, 22). He expects the teacher to allow the student to state negative feeling freely. While this is a nice idea, children can be difficult. He never puts this teacher’s words into context or explains that the child could be complaining about how boring the book is. In chapter nine, Kozol directs teachers to help their students to write a textbook that tells the whole story (Kozol, 57). Before he makes this suggestion, he give an example of a teacher criticizing a student for having a negative opinion (Kozol, 57). While using a textbook writing project to teach students about history is a sound idea, this example is once again out of context. Textbooks can be horribly boring and hard to understand. Perhaps the teacher is telling the student that he or she could not write one better or that the book is necessary (Kozol, …show more content…

The examples above are all examples for the fight that Kozol seems to be attempting to get teachers to find. There are several references to warfare, such as in chapter one when he calls teachers “intellectual guerrillas” (Kozol, 3). Teachers are fighting to keep the attention of their students by sneak attack. In chapter eight, Kozol advises teachers to put the guide book in the hands of their students regardless of the feelings of administration (Kozol, 55). While it may be a wonderful lesson and teaching tool, teachers are not the only ones with a stake in the education of young people. Administrations may be attempting to block some actions from teachers for no reason other than the diverse student body. Parents may not want their student learning of these behaviors. In part two, Kozol advocates for teachers to organize with parents and other teachers to rise up against the public school system. If this is truly what is best for the students and what the parents want, a rebellion is what the system needs. Nonetheless, rebellion will be messy. I will inevitably interrupt the classroom learning. The freedom of personal views should not come at the expense of student

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