Fayetteville Principal, Professor Describe Kozol's Influence

FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. – Two Fayetteville educators eagerly anticipate the appearance Oct. 26 on the University of Arkansas campus of Jonathan Kozol, an author and children's advocate they say has influenced their life's work.

Rhonda Moore, the principal of Root Elementary School in Fayetteville, uses two messages in particular – fairness and accessibility in education – emphasized in Kozol's body of work. David Jolliffe, the holder of the Brown Chair in English Literacy at the university, cites Kozol's writing about adult illiteracy, a primary focus of Jolliffe's work.

Kozol will speak at 6:30 p.m. Tuesday, Oct. 26, in the Verizon Ballroom in the Arkansas Union. His lecture, "The Widening Gap," will focus on disparities in reading levels among various racial and ethnic groups, increases in the school dropout rate and recommended responses for school districts. A Winthrop Rockefeller Distinguished Lecture Series Event, the lecture is free and open to the public.

Kozol was a fourth-grade teacher in Boston during the height of the civil rights campaigns of the 1960s, when he was fired for teaching a Langston Hughes poem to his class. His books include Letters to a Young Teacher, Shame of the Nation, Amazing Grace: The Lives of Children and the Conscience of a Nation, Savage Inequalities: Children in America's Schools, Rachel and Her Children and Death at an Early Age.

Rhonda Moore read Savage Inequalities when she was studying for her administrator's license.

"Most people have some books in their life that they consider influential, really meaningful," she said. "For me, that was Savage Inequalities. That book had a lot of influence on how I approach things every day."

Savage Inequalities, published in 1991, describes substandard conditions in the poor, urban schools of such cities as East St. Louis, Ill., Detroit, San Antonio and Boston. In addition to his observations from visiting schools and relating interviews with students, teachers, administrators and parents, Kozol includes information about disparities in per-pupil spending in poor versus wealthy districts.

Moore grew up in the rural east Arkansas town of Corning and said she was not aware of the disparity among Arkansas schools until she attended Arkansas Governor's School after her junior year in high school.

"I remember being incensed when I figured out that kids who attended bigger schools in Little Rock had opportunities to take classes that I never dreamed of," she recalled. "It seemed so unjust to me that the offerings in Arkansas public schools could be so different."

At Root Elementary, Moore said, teachers and administrators must be sensitive to the fact that some students are experiencing situational or even generational poverty.

"If their parents' experience in school was not good, the parents bring that past with them," she said. "We want them to know everyone at Root has a place at the table. We focus on relationships and communication between school and home. Until we have a relationship with parents, we can't help them help their kids."

Jolliffe cited Illiterate America, a book by Kozol that looked at illiteracy among adults, as the author's work that most influenced him.

"His work has helped bring to popular notice the scope of adult illiteracy issues in the United States," Jolliffe said. "People are literate in varying degrees, and he documents clearly the issues they face. Illiteracy affects people's ability to help their children or to take part in health-care programs, for example."

Through the Brown chair, Jolliffe is conducting several literacy projects in Arkansas with involvement by university students in the J. William Fulbright College of Arts and Sciences and the College of Education and Health Professions.

"It is very brave for an adult to seek help," he said. "I remember a man who once told me, when he went to the grocery store, he wanted to know whether he was buying a can of chili or a can of chili beans."

Jolliffe's experience as a chief reader with the Advanced Placement program in English also has given him insight into some of the issues Kozol examines in his books. Jolliffe recalled a day he spent helping students in an east Arkansas school prepare for the English test.

"There was a question in which they were asked to discuss the ethics of museum exhibits, and I learned that, of 21 students, only one had ever been in a museum," he said.

Kozol's lecture is co-sponsored by the College of Education and Health Professions and the interdisciplinary Public Policy Ph.D. Program. Additional support is provided by the African and African American studies program, the Brown Chair in English Literacy, the Graduate School, the Honors College, the J. William Fulbright College of Arts and Sciences, the Multicultural Center, the office of diversity, the office of the provost, the School of Law, the School of Social Work, Student Support Services and the Teaching and Faculty Support Center.