“Competitive skills are desperately needed by poor children in America, and realistic recognition of the economic roles that they may someday have an opportunity to fill is obviously important, too. But there is more to life, and there ought to be much more to childhood, than readiness for economic functions.”

American writer, progressive activist, and educator

Jonathan Kozol is an American writer, progressive activist, and educator, best known for his books on public education in the United States. His work has focused on the conditions and inequalities of American schooling, and he has become closely associated with writing that examines public education as a social and political issue. Across his books and public work, he has argued from a reform-minded, progressive point of view.