Jonathan Kozol and "Mr." Fred Rogers ....
A Conversation

Nancy McCormick Rambusch Lecture Series
Opening Keynote Address

Montessori 2000: Spirit in Education

Saturday, March18, 2000

In honor of the American Montessori Societys 40th anniversary, the year 2000 Rambusch Lectures will feature two distinguished speakers: Mr. Fred Rogers, creator of the longest running program in television history, Mr. Rogers Neighborhood, and Jonathan Kozol, author of numerous award-winning books, including the best-selling Amazing Grace: The Lives of Children and the Conscience of a Nation (1995) and Savage Inequalities (1991). The Rambusch Lectures commemorate AMS founder Nancy McCormick Rambusch by providing a venue for prominent children's advocates and educators to share their perspectives with a national audience. The year 2000 Rambusch Lectures, scheduled in conjunction with the National Seminar, are scheduled for Saturday, March 18 at 10:00 a.m. at the Marriott Marquis Hotel in New York City.
About Fred Rogers

For more than thirty years, Fred Rogers has been delighting children across the nation by inviting them into his neighborhood, a place where children and their concerns are central. By encouraging children to feel good about themselves, and by addressing their interests with developmentally appropriate sets, puppets, and scenarios, Mr. Rogers Neighborhood has consistently delivered the best in childrens television. An ordained Presbyterian minister, Rogers' program is offered as a service to the community, to children and to their families. In addition to the more than 870 episodes of Mr. Rogers Neighbor which he has produced, directed, and hosted, Rogers is also the author of more than 20 books and the recipient of 32 honorary degrees. Rogers and his wife of 47 years, Joanne Bird Rogers live in Pittsburgh.
About Jonathan Kozol

In 1964 Jonathan Kozol moved from Harvard Square into a poor black neighborhood of Boston and became a fourth grade teacher in the Boston public schools. Fired within a year for introducing his students to the work of African-American poet Langston Hughes, Kozol went on to write about his public school teaching experience in his first book, Death at an Early Age, which won the National Book Award in 1968. His subsequent books, including Rachel and Her Children (1988) about homeless families in New York City, and Savage Inequalities, which contrasts educational opportunities in poor and rich communities, have exposed the economic injustices that make educational opportunity for all an elusive goal. Despite the political conservatism of the 1990s, Kozols most recent book, Amazing Grace, became a national-bestseller within three weeks of its publication. A summa cum laude graduate of Harvard and a Rhodes Scholar at Oxford, Kozol currently lives with his dog Sweetie Pie in Byfield, Massachusetts.