Jay Gillen

"Schools for young people in poverty are marvelously successful at teaching about the scarcity of resources, arbitrariness of authority, and shunting of joy to peripheries that characterize the society they are actually growing up into As a species, we hardly need to go out of our way at all to make sure that each caste develops the skills and abilities they will need to perform their caste function. It is merely human to help the young grow up this way.
What is difficult is helping the young grow up into a society that does not yet exist. For this problem, imagination and creativity are required, and there are many opponents to the attempt. We must act as we would if the young were growing up into a different society, not this one. Acting methodically in such a way means creating a small society that makes sense to grow up in with its own terms, collaborative norms, and cooperative ways." (134)… (meer)

This is one of the best books that I have read this year. It looks at the effects of racism both locally and society-wide. In addition, it shows how the promise of education as currently practiced in the United States fails to realize the promise of eradiating racism and poverty by strengthening the oppressive structures already in place. It does this by looking at how the author's experience with local youth organizing and employment is able to provide both an education and a real-time benefits (for example, paying jobs, nutrition, and shelter).
This book is one of the worst books I have read this year. By providing a grand narrative to explain various problems within American society, the author seems to gloss over conflicting or contradictory data and experience. This book would have been strengthened by acknowledging that different paths might lead to the same outcome. In addition, I do not believe that he deals with certain political realities that would derail his ideas.… (meer)