the shame of the nation chapter 3 summary
The Shame of the Nation Kozol examines the strategy of "one size fits all" within urban public schools. Scripted programs such as 'Success for All' drive curriculum changes, using models adapted from industrial efficiency and Taylorism. In addition, Kozol discusses the naming ritual that permeates the formality of each course taught by the school. Such examples include 'Authentic Writing', 'Active Listening', 'Accountable Talk', and 'Zero Noise'. Teachers in urban school are strongly encouraged to follow these scripted lessons to bring formality and structure to the learning environment. This order is driven by state testing, which leads to anxiety among schoolchildren when their reading level is announced. Students are scored from Level One (lowest) to Level Four (highest), which places them into categories for further instruction. However, these placement scores are used as descriptive terms among students; 'He's a level one', or 'She's gone down to a level two'.