Prompt 2 Theorist: Kozol

Most of the students in this classroom come from the same type of background. They are all from poverty stricken families. These students don not have enough money to buy the materials they need for school. The teacher provides most of the materials. Using the info works website, I was able to find that ninety three percent of the students in this school qualify and are receiving free or reduced lunch. This just shows that most of these kids are in poverty households. A few students are speaking English as their second language. They do not speak English at home, so it is difficult to transition from their language at home to school everyday. According to info works there are no students receiving ESL services. This does not make sense because quiet a few kids told me they do not speak English at home .These students should be getting some kind of help in this area. Some of these parents do not speak any English so they cannot help their child with schoolwork and reading. In this classroom, all students are Asian, African American, or Hispanic. Each student has a different work ethics and brings a different culture to the class. While I was working with one student he told me that he was going to cook me chao mi fen. I'm not real sure what this is but I think this shows some of his culture, which also helps develop the class culture, Another student I work with read with somewhat of a street accent. It is interesting to hear because he is only in 3rd grade and has one. Some of the students work proficiently and always gets their work done on time, while others need constant reminding of what to do and are always wondering around the class. The teacher brings a whole other culture to the class. She is constantly yelling at the students and I have never noticed her teaching. For all the time I have been there she has never been in front of the class. The culture she brings is discipline.
If Jonathan Kozol was to walk into this classroom, he would not like what he saw. His argument about racial segregation being present in schools would be proven valid here. This school has almost no white children. There is so little on info works that they do not even represent them on any charts. This would be a classroom where Kozol could collect a lot of qualitative research. All of his research is hands on and he would be able to collect a lot of data on racial segregation. He would be able to see how little the funding these schools are receiving. They get a box of twelve crayons for four to five children to share. Kozol wants to close the gap between the spending on rich schools and poor schools. He also wants to close the gap between racial segregation. He believes that by emerging these rich white schools and poor minority schools we could have a better education for all.