Ashley's Journal 8 on Chapter 21 response

I would have to say the main purpose of this chapter was the importance of the childrens education. Also another theme was the signifincance of happiness the adults would feel while watching the students. Some times the adults would play with the children, such as letting them push them on the swing. Kozol states " They do not know the satisfaction that we take in watching them. Their only work right now is play. Our only work right now is taking pleasure at the sight of them". I found this quote to be my favorite because it shows that the adults do enoy being around the kids and that it is not a chore to have to watch them. It actually makes the adults feel young again themselves. There were also two teachers in this chapter that had a big part on the childrens education. They would make unique ways to help the children learn. Mrs. Gamble would raise her hands and play an imaginary trumpet to get the childrens attention, while the other teacher would sound very disappointed and sad if the students were talking while he was trying to teach, and they would be silent the rest of the class because they did not want to see him sad.

A big factor that influenced kids in my high school from learning were the class clowns. They would always be doing something when either the teacher was talking, or making noises while the students were trying to do their work. This made it diffecult to focus in class and get the homework done. I would say a way that this could be fixed is to either disipline thos kids and send the to the office every time it happens so they do not think they can get away with their behavior, or having them in classes in which include talking and participation. This way the student can get out some of the energy they may be having. This problem could be centered on parents. The kid may not be able to get their energy out at home, so when they are school they don't know how to handle themselves.