Group Introduction

         The Shame Of The Nation, is about the regression of the progress made in the civil right movement, to desegregate schools. This book explains how the word "diversity" is now used by the media and school officials to disguise how segregated schools are becoming again. The book uses direct examples, interviews and statistics of how schools have become re-segregated.The Shame Of The Nation, is about the regression of the progress made in the civil right movement, to desegregate schools. This book explains how the word "diversity" is now used by the media and school officials to disguise how segregated schools are becoming again. The book uses direct examples, interviews and statistics of how schools have become re-segregated.

          As a group we all have had varied experiences with segregated or low income schools. (Matt) came into this book knowing that schools in the inner city weren’t as reputable as the schools in the suburbs of Milwaukee. I (Caitlin) knew that inner-city schools were not the best. We (Brittany and Amanda) came into the book knowing some about segregated and lower income schools.

          I (Brittany) went to a school in Green Bay where the majority of the population was not white. At the middle and high school that I attended, the majority of students were students of mainly Black and Hispanic decent. I have experienced firsthand some of the struggles a school faces when they have a school whose population leads towards the segregated side. Going to my middle and high school in Green Bay was a huge deal, often people looked down on my family for sending me there. In Green Bay a big misconception was that white students would get mugged, attacked or raped by going to a school that had high demographics that were very “diverse”. I think this will help when I read the book because I have seen some of the problems that occur in segregated schools. Also I have witnessed being looked down upon because of where I went to school, instead of it being seen as that I just went to a school. I am sure that this book will also expose many issues and topics that I did not experience during my time in middle and high school. 

          Before reading this book, I (Amanda) had a pretty good assumption of what it would be about since I have read Kozol's Ordinary Resurrections. This book, however, was published five years later, so I was expecting to learn information from Kozol that he may not have known five years before. I knew that I would be hit with facts and statistics that would both surprise and alarm me, and it was my guess that at some point in the book, I would find myself ashamed of my nation and what it is capable of. Since Ordinary Resurrections included a lot of information about our inner-city school systems, I was curious to see what new information Kozol would supply his reader with in The Shame of the Nation. I wondered if the books would be so similar that I wouldn't be interested in reading this second one, but I approached it with an open mind and was excited to read an author that I am familiar with.

          I (Matt Braun) come from a high school which is predominantly white in the suburbs of Milwaukee. Considering my school is ranked in the top 3 percent of all public high schools in the nation, I really didn’t know how fortunate I was to be given the opportunity to a good education. I’m really hoping that this book will open my eyes to the real world and Jonathon Kozol will really show me the gap between our nation’s public schools. Just from already reading the blurb and part of the introduction, I am curious to see how Jonathon Kozol is going to go about this book. I hope I am wrong, but I may come to find it to be a little repetitive and boring if all he throws to the reader are statistics and random information. Despite coming in with this assumption, I am sure that this book will expose many issues that I did not experience during my time in high school.

          Before reading this book, I (Caitlin Hennes) had some experience with segregation but not much. My high school was mostlywhite; however, we did have some diversity. I would say that maybe about 20% of my high school was of a different ethnicity than white. I know that inner-city schools have it bad compared to the middle and upper class schools. I do not know how bad they have it, so it will be interesting to see what these children all have to suffer through. I love working with children and I think by reading this book I will feel sympathetic towards the children and will want to do something to help them out. I think everyone deserves an equal education; rich or poor. A child cannot help if he/she is born into poverty, so why should we make him/her suffer when it comes to education? Haven't the suffered enough?

          We think that who we are will not have a huge impact on how we read the book because we all expect to be shocked. We know from Amanda’s assumptions that we are in for a huge surprise. We also think from the way that Caitlin and Brittany talked about the way her schools were viewed in Green Bay that there may be people who look down on these children. We do feel however, that this book will open our eyes to the world that we have not experienced in full. Our group contains white students from a middle class that has never had to feel judged because of the color of our skin. We also know that we have always had a safe environment in our schools and realize that this might not be true for other students.