Ghetto Schooling: A Political Economy of Urban Educational Reform / Edition 1

by Jean Anyon

Overview

In this personal account, originally published in 1997, Jean Anyon provides evidence that the economic and political devastation of America's inner cities has robbed schools and teachers of the capacity to successfully implement current strategies of educational reform. She argues that without fundamental change in government and business policies and the redirection of major resources back into the schools and the communities they serve, urban schools are consigned to failure, and no effort at raising standards, improving teaching, or boosting achievement can occur. Based on her participation in an intensive four-year school reform project in the Newark, New Jersey public schools, the author vividly captures the anguish and anger of students and teachers caught in the tangle of a failing school system. "Ghetto Schooling" offers a penetrating historical analysis of more than a century of government and business policies that have drained the economic, political and human resources of urban populations. This book reveals the historical roots of the current crisis in ghetto schools and what must be done to reverse the downward spiral.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780807736623
Publisher:	Teachers College Press
Publication date:	09/19/1997
Edition description:	New Edition
Pages:	240
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 9.00(h) x 0.60(d)

Editorial Reviews

“Anyon helpfully returns our attention to the tougher issues of race, class and urban neglect... and in the process reminds us of possible solutions.”

—The New York Times Book Review

“Essential reading for anyone concerned with the history and current reality of urban education.”

—The Journal of American History

“This important book is recommended for educators, sociologists, city planners, and public policy decision makers.”;

—Library Journal

From the Publisher

Writing passionately from her experience of working for reform in the inner-city schools of Newark, New Jersey, Anyon (dean, education, Rutgers Univ.) argues that reform must include efforts to restore the political power and economic opportunities that have been lost to inner-city residents over the past 80 years. A sense of hope and the chance for a semblance of the lifestyle enjoyed by those in the surrounding suburbs is a requisite, according to Anyon, for allowing children in minority-dominated inner-city schools to succeed. Anyon shows the effects of decisions based on social class and race while providing a historical study of government actions related to education in Newark that can be extrapolated to other poor areas. This important book is recommended for educators, sociologists, city planners, and public policy decisionmakers.Scott Johnson, Meridian Community Coll. Lib., Miss.

Library Journal