A Moving Account of the Struggles and Achievements of America's Educationally Underprepared - Softcover

Rose, Mike

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0143035460 ISBN 13: 9780143035466

Publisher: Penguin Books, 2005

Synopsis

The award-winning account of how America's educational system fails it students and what can be done about it

Remedial, illiterate, intellectually deficient—these are the stigmas that define America’s educationally underprepared. Having grown up poor and been labeled this way, nationally acclaimed educator and author Mike Rose takes us into classrooms and communities to reveal what really lies behind the labels and test scores. With rich detail, Rose demonstrates innovative methods to initiate “problem” students into the world of language, literature, and written expression. This book challenges educators, policymakers, and parents to re-examine their assumptions about the capacities of a wide range of students.

Already a classic, Lives on the Boundary offers a truly democratic vision, one that should be heeded by anyone concerned with America’s future.

"A mirror to the many lacking perfect grammar and spelling who may see their dreams translated into reality after all." -Los Angeles Times Book Review

"Vividly written . . . tears apart all of society's prejudices about the academic abilities of the underprivileged." -New York Times

About this title

About the Author:

Mike Rose is a professor in the UCLA Graduate School of Education and Information Studies. He has taught in a wide range of educational settings, from elementary school to adult literacy and job training programs. He is a member of the National Academy of Education and the recipient of a Guggenheim Fellowship, the Grawemeyer Award in Education, and awards from the Spencer Foundation, the National Council of Teachers of English, the Modern Language Association, and the American Educational Research Association. He also received the Commonwealth Club of California’s Award for Literary Excellence in Nonfiction. His books include Lives on the Boundary: The Struggles and Achievements of America’s Educationally Underprepared, Possible Lives: The Promise of Public Education in America, The Mind at Work: Valuing the Intelligence of the American Worker, Why School?: Reclaiming Education for All of Us, and Back to School: Why Everyone Deserves a Second Chance at Education.

From Library Journal:

Because a teacher believed in him, Rose (writing program, UCLA) was able to escape from poverty and go to college. There he floundered, unfamiliar with the conventions and demands of academic discourse, until another teacher realized his potential and took a personal interest in him. In Lives , Rose talks about the tremendous barriers to learning which handicap the underprivileged in their striving to educate themselves. Rose uses examples from his own and his students' lives to show how change takes place through a dialogue of possibility between teacher and pupil. "Knowledge gained its meaning, at least initially, through a touch on the shoulder." Rose impresses upon us the importance of reaching these students and convinces us that they can be saved. An admirable, life-affirming book, deserving a wide readership.
- David Keymer, Coll. of Technology, Utica
Copyright 1989 Reed Business Information, Inc.

About this edition

• Publisher: Penguin Books
• Publication date: 2005
• ISBN 10: 0143035460
• ISBN 13: 9780143035466
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 288