Amazing Grace

Johathan Kozol
Amazing Grace; The lives of Children and the Conscience of a Nation


Kozol argues that people in poverty are not in control of their circumstances because the system cheats them out of the opportunities to get out. He suggests that to break the cycle of poverty and ghettoization the culture/system of power needs to change the way of thinking, and do what they can to educate and create opportunities for those in the cycle.


(1) "St Ann's Church, on St. Ann's Avenue, is three blocks from the subway station. The children who come to this small Episcopal church for food and comfort and to play, and the mothers and fathers who come here for prayer, are said to be the poorest people in New York. "More than 95% are poor," the pastor says - "the poorest of the poor, poor by any standard I can think of.""

- One day when I went to my moms' class. The activity she was doing with the kids was to classify buildings according to what their function was. One little girl in the class put the church with the school, and a little boy in the class told her she was wrong. He showed her his picture and he had the school with the library because he said the church is for when you have to pray, and the school is for when you learn so that goes with the library. The little girl said to him, "when your mom got no money, you need to eat here."

(2) "There are children in the poorest, most abandoned places who, despite the miseries and poisons that the world has pumped into their lives, seem, when you first meet them, to be cheerful anyways. Cliffie, as we set out onto St. Ann's Avenue, seems about as buoyant, ans as lively, and as charmingly mysterious, as seven-year old anywhere. He also seems to feel no shyness and no hesitation about filling the role of guide that he has been assigned."

-Reading this part made me think of this one little boy in my moms class named Brian. He's my favorite in the class. My mom tells me stories about him, and I see how he is when I go on Thursdays for the service learning projects. He relates to Cliffie much. Hes not shy, he's willing to learn everything. He's mom speaks no English, and she has no literacy in English or Spanish. When a letter is sent home to Brian's mother, he has to explain it to her, and one day the mother had to come in and sign a paper, and she signed it like a 1st grader. So Brian tried to hard to teach his mom everything he knows. Hes charming, puts a smile on my face every time I go into the wrong. He loves learning. He's everything Cliffie is.

(3) "Her daughter, she tells me, lives on 141st St. in Mott Haven, very close to St. Ann's Church. "On a hot night like tonight, everyone there is outside on the stoop because nobody has a fan. You know it's dangerous to do it but you go to go outside. You either go outside and take your chance or else you roast inside the house."

-This also reminds my of Central Falls where my mom works. As the days get hotter, more families are outside hanging out on their pouches. Almost all the houses in Central Falls are apartment houses, and with the all the shooting that have happened it is very dangerous. After reading that, I couldn't agree anymore and I see that going to my mom's schools.


Before I read Kozol, my mom told me she read a lot of his stuff. His books are easy read. They interesting and agreeable. In the story, he makes them real so the reader can relate to also see it in the world today. This was my favorite so far. My mom was right it was very interesting and I got to relate it to so many things.