Why School?

Mike Rose, a professor at the UCLA Graduate School of Education and Information Studies, is the author of numerous books, including The Mind at Work, Possible Lives, and Back to School (The New Press). Among his many awards are a Guggenheim Fellowship, the Grawemeyer Award in Education, and the Commonwealth Club of California Award for Literary Excellence in Nonfiction. He lives in Santa Monica.

"Once again at his most bold and brilliant…Rose is a rare treasure in this dreary moment of debate along the dismal flatlands of education discourse. He brings us to the mountaintops."—Jonathan Kozol"Rose gives a larger sense of the interplay between what happens in the classroom and the world outside school…[and] a capacious sense of what can happen within the interior world of the classroom."—The New York Review of Books"Rose puts into clear words what so many of us feel is lacking in our children’s education…[He] recalibrates our thinking in this little book, the first step toward change."—Los Angeles Times"Wondrous."—In These Times"A compact and potent collection of essays."—The NationSelected by Bill Moyers as a "must read" book of 2009 "I interviewed Mike Rose 20 years ago for my series A World of Ideas. He was already on the path to becoming one of our most exciting thinkers about education in the lives of marginalized people. He lives in the real world, and this new book–slim and vividly written–is an inspiration for how to cope with it in our classrooms."—Bill Moyers"This a beautifully written work…Mike Rose draws on over 40 years of teaching experience and research, weaving memoir and policy discussion together in this moving call for a humane approach to education that accounts for the needs of every child."—Christian Science Monitor"Rose invites parents, community members, and other stakeholders to join the conversation orbiting our educational system and reclaim it in the name of democracy and equity…Rose profiles remarkable teachers, engaged students, and blossoming schools. His descriptions of each are underlined by his convection that learning, as a human endeavor…is magnificent. It is wondrous."—In These Times"Aims to reinvigorate a discussion on the value of education in a democracy…strongly advocates for education that values reflection, curiosity, and imagination rather than the quantifiable measures favored by economics." —Booklist"One of the most insightful, challenging, honest, helpful, and encouraging books I’ve read in many years."—Joe Nathan, Director, Center for School Change, University of Minnesota

• CONTENTSPreface ixIntroduction: Why School? 11. In Search of a Fresh Languageof Schooling 252. Finding Our Way: The Experienceof Education 313. No Child Left Behind and the Spiritof Democratic Education 434. Business Goes to School 535. Politics and Knowledge 656. Reflections on Intelligence in theWorkplace and the Schoolhouse 737. On Values, Work, and Opportunity 898. Standards, Teaching, Learning 979. Remediation at the University 11710. Re-mediating Remediation 12711. Soldiers in the Classroom 13912. A Language of Hope 14513. Finding the Public Good Through theDetails of Classroom Life 153Conclusion: The Journey Back and Forward 161Acknowledgments 171Notes 173