Fire in the Ashes

When Jeremy, a 12-year-old, met Kozol at St. Ann’s, he introduced himself as a writer. He had written a novel, which he showed to Kozol. He lived near the church in a run-down building with his mother and his older brother, who later returned to Puerto Rico when his mother became worried about the kids he was hanging out with. Jeremy had attended a progressive elementary school, but at the middle school he attended, he was bullied by classmates and ignored by teachers. He spent his time cutting school and visiting a poet named Juan Bautista Castro. He was troubled by not finding any of the books he was looking for, as there were no bookstores near his house, so Kozol took him to a Barnes and Noble bookstore in Manhattan.

When Jeremy was preparing to enter high school, the pastor of St. Ann’s, Martha, got him admitted to a small urban academy that promised a good education but that was focused on preparation for national tests. He asked questions that were not in the limited curriculum, and he was sent to a room where disruptive kids spent their days doing nothing. Kozol arranged for him to attend a summer program at a Massachusetts boarding school where the teacher noted that Jeremy’s writing was several notches above grade level.