In Chapter 3, Kozol turns his attention to the “adaptive strategies” that principals of low-income inner-city schools employ in an attempt to improve their schools “within the limits inequality allows” (63). Although these strategies are often discussed “in broad language,” referring to students of all races and classes, they often apply primarily to poor children of color. Inspired by the work of behaviorist psychologist B. F. Skinner, many inner-city schools use “a pedagogy of direct command and absolute control” (64), which has a “provocative effect” on children. Adapted from a “model of industrial efficiency,” the teacher becomes “a master of control” (67), leaving no room for “spontaneous emotion” from the children or the teacher.

At PS 65 in the South Bronx, Kozol observed these strategies and their effect on children he knew well. The school used a popular scripted curriculum called Success For All, and a blackboard in the fourth-grade classroom was covered with a detailed rubric describing four levels of academic achievement and the precise requirements for each level. Teachers and children alike spoke of “Authentic Writing” or “Active Listening,” and Kozol found that teachers had to take time away from actual instruction to name all these activities and intellectual tasks.