| School of Dreams: Making the Grade at a Top American High School Contributor(s): Humes, Edward (Author) |
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ISBN: 0156030071 ISBN-13: 9780156030076 Publisher: Ecco Press OUR PRICE: $30.40 Product Type: Paperback - Other Formats Published: September 2004 Annotation: A Washington Post Book World Rave In School of Dreams, Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Edward Humes chronicles the year he spent in a remarkable public high school where students struggle to harmonize parents' expectations with their own goals and teachers search for that elusive balance between creating great test takers and fostering great learners. Humes gives us an inside look at the daily joys, disasters, stress, and struggles of the memorable students of Whitney High, as well as those of their teachers and parents. The result is an honest and enlightening story of what life is really like for today's high-achieving high-school students-and a revealing look at the state of public education in America. "Engrossing . . . Deserves credit for showing that a fine public school education isn't necessarily an oxymoron." -The Boston Globe
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| Additional Information |
| BISAC Categories: - Education | Secondary - Education | Student Life & Student Affairs - Education | Philosophy, Theory & Social Aspects |
| Dewey: 373.794 |
| LCCN: 2003005614 |
| Physical Information: 1.2" H x 5.2" W x 7.9" (0.95 lbs) 370 pages |
| Themes: - Cultural Region - West Coast - Geographic Orientation - California - Locality - Los Angeles-Long Beach, CA - Topical - Family - Cultural Region - Western U.S. - Cultural Region - Southern California |
| Descriptions, Reviews, Etc. |
| Publisher Description: The pressure to succeed in our nation's most competitive public high schools is often crushing. Striving to understand this insular world, Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Edward Humes spent a year at California's Whitney High, a school so renowned that parents move across town-and across the world-hoping to enroll their children. That's because schools like Whitney deliver everything parents want: love of learning, a sense of mission, and SAT scores that pave the way to elite universities. Attending such a school, of course, carries its own toll: High-achieving, pressured kids survive on espresso and four hours' sleep a night, falling into despair if they get a B. Lively, personal, and very readable, School of Dreams uncovers what works-and what doesn't-at this model high school, offering parents, students, and teachers some powerful messages about public education today. |
Contributor Bio(s): Humes, Edward: - Edward Humes is a veteran journalist, contributing to the Los Angeles Times Sunday Magazine, and has written numerous books including Baby E. R. and the bestselling Mississippi Mud, Mean Justice, and No Matter How Loud I Shout. A graduate of Hampshire College and a Pulitzer Prize winner, he lives in Southern California with his family. |