In the Classroom: Dispatches from an Inner-City School That Works

by Mark Gerson

Book Overview

What happens when a Frank Sinatra-loving, Jewish college graduate from the suburbs takes a year before law school to teach at an inner-city Catholic high school? Mark Gerson has written a remarkable... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0684827565
• ISBN13: 9780684827568
• Release Date: January 1997
• Publisher: Free Press
• Length: 258 Pages
• Weight: 1.10 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.0" x 5.8" x 8.8"

Customer Reviews

Mark Gerson cares about children

As an urban educator, no book is more valuable to me than this one. Understanding the problems of today's urban schools means reading Gerson's In The Classroom.

One Fast Read

In the Classroom is one fast read: I downed it in one night. Right from the beginning, Gerson's account of teaching in the inner city is gripping. Tired, old assumptions are put to rest and new, provocative questions are raised by someone who was actually "there". Perhaps the best aspect of this book is the dialogue. The dialogue is so vivid that reader is taking a seat in Gerson's classroom. If it is not already clear, I highly recommend this book

This is a great, no-nonsense book that you should buy.

If you're like me, you're a sort of level-headed, moderate-to-conservative American who is sick and tired of political extremism, government bureaucracy, and dumb ideas. You know what you like, and you base your political ideology on common sense, plain and simple. If all that is true, you'll enjoy Gerson's story of a spending a year in an inner-city New Jersey Catholic high school teaching American history. Gerson is the sort of guy who is not afraid to pull punches. If a student does something wrong, he is punished rather than pampered (eg, forced to listen to Sinatra during detention), and the results are amazing. A must-read

Inner city education can work

How many "experts", liberal and conservative, comment on how awful inner city public school education is? How may of these experts would ever set foot into one of these classrooms, let alone make an impact on the kids? Mark Gerson did just that. After teaching in an inner city Catholic school for a year, he lets the kids speak for themselves. The kids don't ask for pity and don't ask for more government funding. They demand - and earn - respect, because they are succeeding despite tremendous adversity. Mark offers a blueprint for how inner city schools can inspire excellence. It doesn't take government money. It takes teachers who expect excellence, and parents who demand no less. The book works even better on another level, for the reader gets to know some wonderful children through the eyes of their teacher. Mark strings together anecdotes about the children's lives, both in school and out. Some will make you laugh out loud. Others are heartwrenching. All are told with sensitivity by an author who would rather introduce you to individuals than to social pathologies.

A Provocative Examination of Poverty, Race and Education.

One would be hardpressed to find three topics on the minds of more Americans today than the holy trinity of poverty, race and education. Yet, while so much of American life is defined by these issues, few of us have the courage to discuss them intelligently and honestly. In his magnificent In the Classroom, Gerson presents his readers with a view of real life issues of race and poverty as seen through the eyes of his students in an inner city Catholic high school. These children's experiences, coupled with Gerson's insightful and sharp analysis, offer a uniquely honest appraisal of the most talked about issues of the day. Unlike conversations heard across university campuses or corporate boardrooms, Gerson's children tell it as they see it and, in the process put a human face on issues that few are willing to discuss head on. For anyone who thinks about the problems of the inner city this is a must read