These Schools Belong to You and Me, Deborah Meier
These Schools Belong to You and Me, Deborah Meier
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These Schools Belong to You and Me
Why We Can't Afford to Abandon Our Public Schools

Author: Deborah Meier, Emily Gasoi

Narrator: Lorna Raver, Emily Zeller

Unabridged: 7 hr 19 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Publisher: Beacon Press

Published: 09/19/2017


Synopsis

A challenge to narrow, profit-driven conceptions of school success and an argument for protecting public education to ensure that all students become competent citizens in a vibrant democracy

In These Schools Belong to You and Me, MacArthur award–winning educator, reformer, and author Deborah Meier draws on her fifty-plus years of experience to argue that the purpose of universal education is to provide young people with an “apprenticeship for citizenship in a democracy.” Through an intergenerational exchange with her former colleague and fellow educator Emily Gasoi, the coauthors analyze the last several decades of education reform, challenging narrow profit-driven conceptions of school success. Reflecting on the trajectory of education and social policies that are leading our country further from rule “of, for, and by the people,” the authors apply their extensive knowledge and years of research to address the question of how public education must change in order to counter the erosion of democratic spirit and practice in schools and in the nation as a whole.

Meier and Gasoi candidly reflect on the successes, missteps, and challenges they experienced working in democratically governed schools, demonstrating that it is possible to provide an enriched education to all students, not just the privileged few. Arguing that public education and democracy are inextricably bound, and pushing against the tide of privatization, These Schools Belong to You and Me is a rousing call to both save and improve public schools to ensure that all students are empowered to help shape our future democracy.

About The Author

Emily Gasoi has been an educator for more than two decades and was a founding teacher at Mission Hill School in Boston. In 2012 she earned a doctorate in Educational Leadership from the University of Pennsylvania. Gasoi currently lives in Washington, DC, where she adjuncts at Georgetown University and is cofounder of Artful Education, an organization focused on helping schools and arts organizations improve practices related to creative teaching and learning.Deborah Meier, author of the acclaimed books The Power of Their Ideas and In Schools We Trust, has spent more than five decades working in public education as a parent, school-board member, teacher, principal, writer, and advocate. Meier ranks among the most acclaimed leaders of the school reform movement in the United States. Among her numerous accomplishments, she helped found the Coalition of Essential Schools in the 1980s, under the leadership of Ted Sizer. In 1987, she received a MacArthur award for her work in public education.


Reviews

Goodreads review by Deb (Readerbuzz) on November 18, 2017

I am a person who is terribly worried about our schools. Maybe you are, too. I feel so strongly about the importance of public education in a democracy that I could have written the title of this book. This author has many, many years of experience working in the schools of America. Early on, she wo......more

Goodreads review by Bob on November 09, 2017

Summary: An argument for public schools where democracy is not simply taught but practiced by including teachers, students, and parents, as well as administrators as active participants in the educational process. It might be argued that both public schools and democracy are under serious attack in t......more

Goodreads review by Marzie on September 19, 2017

I received and Advance Reader Copy of this book from Edelweiss+ in exchange for an honest review. 4.5 Stars This is such an important book and my greatest concern is that the very people who most need to read this book will perceive it as too overtly political to grasp its most salient points- that a......more

Goodreads review by Erin on December 30, 2017

This is a must-read for teachers! I found myself fired up--underlining, boxing, and annotating as I read this book to and from school each day. Meier and Gasoi chronicle their work building and teaching in unapologetically progressive public schools in New York and Boston. Their stories of small, de......more

Goodreads review by Joy on February 08, 2018

The book is beautiful. I'm really glad I read it.......more


Quotes

“Deborah Meier and Emily Gasoi remind us of the most important question about education: What is the purpose of education? Why do we put children in schools for thirteen years of their life, even seventeen years? We educate them to be empowered citizens, every single one of them. We educate them to sustain our democracy. Standards and tests are not relevant to that goal. Learning to ask questions and to think is.”
—Diane Ravitch, author of Reign of Error: The Hoax of the Privatization Movement and the Danger to America’s Public Schools

“It is fitting that a chapter in this inspiring book is titled ‘Falling for Democracy,’ for Deborah Meier and Emily Gasoi have written an intimate and heartfelt love letter to public education. The authors give us the experience of creating and working in schools where democratic principles are vibrantly alive.”
—Mike Rose, author of Possible Lives: The Promise of Public Education in America

“Once again, Deborah Meier has reminded us to never lose sight of what schools are supposed to be about. Beyond test scores and other measures of academic achievement, our schools must prepare young people to actively participate in a democratic society. They won’t be able to do this if they haven’t been encouraged to think critically and haven’t been treated as respected members of their school community. In this important new book, Meier and her coauthor, Emily Gasoi, remind us that democratic practice and progressive education cannot be limited to independent private schools or be dismissed as liberal feel-goodism. Rather, if our schools are to play a role in bolstering our democracy, then we must always remain clear about how to do this and why it is essential. This book will be a poignant wake-up call to those who have forgotten.”
—Pedro A. Noguera, PhD, Distinguished Professor of Education, UCLA Graduate School of Education and Information Studies