Paul Tough's Book Report

Purpose and Focus: The purpose and main point of chapter one of Hope and Healing in Urban Education are that youth in low-income environments need extra hope and attention in order to succeed. Shawn Ginwright explains that while it may be difficult to reach these communities, it’s a worthwhile investment of time and resources to improve them. Ginwright uses personal examples of people who have been affected by the struggle of living in a crime-ridden and low-income neighborhood in San Francisco. The eldest sibling examined, Tanya, a community organizer suffered the loss of her younger brother, who was murdered while he was visiting her on holiday from college.

Savage Inequalities Book Review Savage Inequalities by Jonathan Kozol is an in-depth analysis of America’s public school system and the problems that encompass it. Kozol’s book examines some of the poorest public schools in the United States and attempts to explain how the school or school district plummeted so far into the depths of poverty. Kozol believes that the biggest problem public school faces is segregation, which is still very real in many parts of the United States. Racism and a lackadaisical attitude toward the education of minority groups in America are the roots of the problems that public schools face.

In “If I Were A Poor Black Kid,” writer Gene Marks claims that poor inner city children have opportunities to be successful in life if they follow the advices/ideas he gives such as, to magnet/private school, have technology access and get good grades. Throughout the article Marks, emphasizes that poor inner city kids have the ability to be successful but they do not want to use the resource they have available. This article has been a controversial because Marks compare himself with the poor inner city kids without having knowledge about the challenges poor inner city kids face daily. The argument the author presents in the article may seem logical on the surface but investigating more deeply it can be unreasonable. Gene Marks is a man who comes from a middle class white background.

Typically, the instructors and staff of the schools and centers are also people who have grown up in underprivileged neighborhoods and have a genuine understanding of the needs of these children and are willing to put in the extra time it takes to prevent failure. In both his autobiography and the docudrama, Waiting for Superman (2010), Canada’s Harlem Children’s

“Successful parenting does not just happen: parents must make a conscious effort to be active in their children 's lives by nourishing and developing their children 's talents and skills.” (Spring,

In Savage Inequalities: Children in America’s Schools, Jonathan Kozol exploits extreme inequalities between the schools in East St. Louis and Morris High in Rye, New York in the 1990s. The living conditions in East St. Louis were deplorable. There was no trash collection service, the sewage system was dysfunctional, and crime, illness, poverty, and pollution ran rampant. The schools in East St. Louis had a predominately black student population, and the buildings were extremely obsolete, with lab equipment that was outdated by thirty to fifty years, a football field without goalposts, sports uniforms held together by patches, and a plumbing system that repeatedly spewed sewage. In addition, there was a substantial lack of funds that prevented

Most of the children in Little’s AP class has a dark background. For example, coming from a childhood full violence or sexual abuse. But even that kind of obstacle shouldn’t stop you from succeeding in getting an education. Through the book, “And Still We Rise: The Trials and Triumphs of Twelve Gifted Inner-City Students” Corwin has showed the audience that no matter where you are or where you are from, you can always succeed in

The essay by kozol shows the harsh reality about the uneven funds and attention given to the schools were many poor and minority students attend. During a visit to Fremont high school in 2003, Kozol claims that school that are in poverty stricken areas appear to worse than school that are in high class neighborhoods. Throughout the essay, kozol correlates between the south central Los Angeles high school and the wealthy high schools that are in the same district. When he learned the graduation requirement at Fremont and the classes the school had offer to accomplish this requirements, Kozol was amazed at how academically pointless the graduation requirements at Fremont and the classes to accomplish them were. Kazol compared this to AP classes

As a result, we had in 2011 nearly half (48.1%) of all Dane County’s Black third graders failed to meet proficiency standards in reading, compared to 10.9% of White third graders. In other words, Dane County Black third graders were 4.4 times more likely NOT to be proficient in reading than their White peers. In other words, because of this large difference between rich and poor property taxes payment, rich communities receive more school funding and give great opportunities to their children to have higher quality education than poor communities. In “School funding inequality makes education separate and unequal”, Klein Rebecca (2015)

In “Whatever It Takes,” Paul Tough describes Geoffery Canada’s journey to provide children living in Harlem an equal opportunity to succeed. In the novel Tough touches on the benefits which Canada’s after school program, the Harlem Children’s Zone has on the children of Harlem. The after school program aims to provide a more learning-conducive environment and resources which these children are not receiving. Tough provides compelling evidence that Canada’s

“If it were that easy to reroute peoples’ life path, we should be doing it all the time for everyone” (Alexander) Alexander and Entwisle considers his students as, “urban disadvantaged”. He knew that keeping track of them was going to be one of the hardest thing. By the fifth grade, the children had scattered into the city’s 105 public elementary schools. They kept track of the students by their report cards and semiannual and then yearly interviews through high schools. Alexander and Entwisle wrote over 20 articles about each findings and the students.

His goal, to close the achievement gap in his classroom. The consistent thoughts throughout chapter three is that the way to close the gap is to provide adequate funding. I am in complete agreement with David and Cuban that if policymakers continue to believe that the achievement gap can be closed by setting high standards but not providing the means to attain these standards, then the gap between white and black, high and low, poor and rich, English speaking and non-English speaking will remain! Summary Chapter three of “Cutting Through the Hype”, discusses not only the history of the achievement gap but also, where the idea of closing the achievement gap originated, what problems closing the achievement gap would solve, the question, does focusing attention on closing the achievement gap work?, and the solution to the achievement gap in their eyes.

Although, discriminatory discipline overtly plays a significant role in pushing youth particularly students of color out of the classrooms and into the pipeline, this shines a light on the fact that our public school system is failing our children regardless of race. While a faulty public school system can not foster students educational development nor prepare students to be responsible citizens who lead economically and socially productive lives. Therefore, stopping the bleeding of school-to-prison pipeline is merely a prelude to a much larger social justice challenge—the right to quality education that constructs the well-being for all.

As Nelson Mandela once said, "Education is the most powerful weapon which you can use to change the world.” Donovan Livingston, a graduate at Harvard Graduate School of Education, has similar views on education. His passionate and inspiring speech called “Lift Off” was given at HGSE’s Commencement Ceremony on May 25, 2016. The speech discusses the importance of education as well as the obstacles and injustices students, especially those of color, have experienced throughout history in getting an education. Livingston’s graduating classmates who are becoming teachers, as well as teachers and educators in general, are the audience of his speech.

Richard Daley, the Chicago mayor, and Michelle Rhee, a school chancellor, both agree that these programs (meaning school paying students) “level the playing field” for low-income kids, since middle-and upper-class families are able to offer their kids cash incentives for academic achievement. This means that paying students helps the low-income students have enough money to support their education and to be almost at the same level as the upper-class kids with families who can support their school life. Furthermore, paying students could also help gain the low-income students’ attention. This reward helps them resist getting into gangs or committing crimes because of their need for money. The result of students getting paid is that they will enjoy school more and engage in the activities with enthusiasm.