January 1999

Children visit a makeshift memorial to Seattle schools superintendent John Stanford, who died of leukemia November 28 at the age of 60. Stanford, a retired U.S. Army general, became one of the few noneducators to lead a big-city school system when he was appointed in 1995. In a written statement, President Clinton said Stanford's courage and optimism inspired "an entire community to believe once again in their public schools."

Writer and educator Jonathan Kozol's greatest concern has always been for the welfare of the nation's children, particularly those living amid urban poverty. His books include a National Book Award winner and a New York Times best seller. His two most recent--Amazing Grace and Savage Inequalities--were excerpted in this magazine. In a recent interview with Technos Quarterly Editor Mardell Raney, he talked about his life and work and his experience teaching the primary grades.

At some indeterminable moment during my tenure as an English teacher, I became old. My 30th birthday brought with it a bad case of Out-Of-Touchitis, otherwise known as TSD: Tie and Sweater Disease. This condition is often unrecognizable to its victim until the disease has progressed beyond the point of treatment. As a prematurely fogied teacher addicted to cheap, faculty-lounge coffee, I was another hopeless case until one miraculous October day. I'll never forget the moment that the fever of my disease broke and I took the first step toward making imaginative short story writers out of a hard-core, third-period English II class.

Look what I have for you, Mr. McMahon." I don't want to look. It's Uriel. He always has something he wants me to see: a Ninja star, an unusual bottle cap, a minor hurt. Sometimes I have time for him, more often I don't. This spring morning, I'm trying to finish lesson plans for the day before my 3rd graders file into the classroom. But I've forgotten to lock the door, and my precious preparation time is now threatened. I try to concentrate on my planning, but something in Uriel's voice tugs me away, and at last I look up into his 10-year-old face, all freckles and anticipation, gray-green eyes wide open, ever watchful for love or assault. Satisfied that he has my attention, he unzips his jacket halfway, peeks inside dramatically, and . . . pulls out a rose. Of course--this is May, when children bring their teachers not apples, but flowers.

Public Vs. Private

Ron Wolk's "Perspectives" column in October ("Voucher Baloney") was an impassioned essay. Like Wolk, I am skeptical of those who declare school vouchers the answer to today's education woes. Unfortunately, Wolk makes his arguments at the expense of independent schools. He proclaims that such schools are self-selecting, relying on admissions departments to cull only from middle and upper-middle-class families. What he fails to recognize is that public schools also have admissions officers: real estate agents. These de facto gatekeepers steer prospective families away from the "bad schools" toward the "good schools." Indeed, I would wager that some of the schools Wolk would praise as being "cutting edge" are in the affluent suburbs and act for all practical purpose much as private schools do.

The season of overindulgence has finally come to a close. No, we're not referring to the holidays. We're talking about the political season-- Election Year 1998--which brought some beautifully wrapped gifts to the world of education.