Summary Of Jonathan Kozol's Fire In The Ashes

Fire in the Ashes is a nonfiction book that describes Jonathan Kozol’s personal experience in teaching children in one of the poorest neighborhoods of New York City, inner-city. The book discusses Kozol’s students very deeply and with details in a very powerful descriptive and story-telling style. The book shed light on how much Kozol was inspired by his students in his teaching career. The book also focuses on segregation in public schools and the conditions of low-income students and their families. Kozol expresses his belief, in the book, of providing equal education that is not inspired by race, social class, and ethnicity to public school students. Kozol made several winning prizes books and his students were the main influence and inspirations

His Bachelor degree was in English literature. According to Emily Bazelon, Kozol went to Oxford after graduating from Harvard in 60s before returning to Boston and teach in public schools (The Conscience). He stated that he never excepted or dreamed of being a teacher. Looking at what he has achieved, he has never had a single thought about what he accomplished to himself and the US society. He mainly worked in public schools, which mostly have students from low-economy level. According Bazelon, Kozol’s bond with his students was so strong. He spent months of his life living in shelters and poor neighborhood in order to understand his students’ struggle (The Conscience). He stated on his speech and in the book that he still in-touch with his students and the communicate usually from time to

The book gives the feeling of anger toward segregation, inequality in education, and the lifestyle that lower-class people are forced to get along with. The way he wrote the stories of the children and their families was very strong in supporting and proving Kozol’s point and impression when participated these stories on the 1980s. For instance, Kozol described how the manager of the Martinique Hotel was taking rents from residents. He mentioned that the residents were harassed and treated harshly whenever the rent was late even though it was paid by the government through governmental welfare