“Business leaders tell urban school officials…that what they need the schools to give them are “team players.”…Team players may well be of great importance to the operation of a business corporation and are obviously essential in the military services; but a healthy nation needs it future poets, prophets, ribald satirists, and maddening iconoclasts at least as much as it needs people who will file in a perfect line to an objective they are told they cannot question.” (p. 106)

• We now have an apartheid curriculum . Because teachers and principals in the inner city are so test driven, inner city children who are mostly students of color are not allowed to have their voices heard through stories and questions, while white students are given that flexibility, opportunity and creativity.
• Test preparation is driving out child centered learning. Testing mania has become a national psychosis, driven by business.
• Racial isolation/segregation which does terrible damage to young people, is on the rise. In SHAME, education analyst Richard Rothstein points out how important it is for children of color to become comfortable in the majority culture and how devastating this new segregation is in the long term: “It is foolhardy to think black children can be taught no matter how well, in isolation and then have the skills and confidence as adults to succeed in a white world where they have no experience.” (p. 229).  That Tuesday night Mr. Kozol referred to the new segregation as a “theological abomination.”
• And finally, of course, Mr. Kozol believes small class size, enriched curricula, and equitable resources and facilities would offer an equitable education for all children.  This recent article in the Huffington Post clearly and disturbingly describes the safety and health hazards brought into Chicago public schools because business has invaded public schools. Bugs, moldy bread, trash left for days, leaks left unfixed.  You can bet the East coast decision makers who are driving this “reform” did not attend schools under these conditions.

• A reduction in testing because that creates winners and losers, low self esteem, a demoralized work force;
• A consistent definition of academic proficiency so an excellent school has the same proficiency outcomes whether it have high numbers of children in poverty, high numbers of second language learners, high numbers of children of color. Anything less is being dishonest
• An inclusionary collaboration of decision makers. Who is making decisions and for whom are they making these decisions.
• An experienced professional work force, stopping the two years in and out model which produces great chaos and churn for our children who can least afford it.

Ironically, a few short days after Mr. Kozol’s appearance in Denver,  Pasi Sahlberg, former director general in the Finnish Ministry of Education and Culture, currently visiting professor at Harvard University’s Graduate School of Education, wrote an opinion piece for CNN on-line news . I was reminded of Mr. Sahlberg’s March appearance in Denver at a United Opt Out conference where he explained how and why Finland has been successful achieving educational equity (using many of the strategies and beliefs Jonathan Kozol has fought for over the years) while the United States (ignoring similar strategies) has not.

1. Co-operation, not competition. Teachers have time to work together, have a lighter teaching load than teachers here, have time to really share ideas and best practices. (Think teacher evaluations and bonuses based on student scores and doing better than other teachers).
2. Creativity not standardization   The more you standardize, the less creativity you have, the fewer new ideas you produce and the less risk-taking you see. In Finland, each school does its own thing. (Think Common Core of State Standards about to be implemented in the U.S. and the concomitant tests PARCC and Smarter Balance).
3. No test-based culture. There is no word for accountability in Finnish. Responsibility is the word Finns use, and it means an enhancement of trust between teachers and the rest of society. Mr. Sahlberg believes accountability is something that is left when you take responsibility away. Finnish students take one standardized test and that is given in the final year of high school. (Again, think CCSS, PARCC, Smarter Balance)
4. Equity, not choice. More choice leads to more inequity. (Think 51 charters, choice, chaos, churn).

Approximately 40 years ago Finland witnessed an increasing educational gap based on economics. It took note and became singularly focused on one goal: EQUITY as illustrated and measured by a good school system for every child. Forty plus years ago Jonathan Kozol recognized INEQUITY in American public, citing it as the biggest reason children in poverty struggle in school. Forty years later look at what Finland has accomplished regarding equity; then look at the growing inequity in this country.  It is past the time to listen to Mr. Kozol. If we do not, all of us are responsible for promoting and condoning THE SHAME OF THE NATION.