Pedro A. Noguera

Because I've worked in Title I schools in New York City for the 13 years, there was little in this book that I haven't seen, and therefore little to surprise me. That our public schools replicate--and therefore perpetuate--social relations in our broader society ought to be axiomatic at this point. As an aside (and as a teacher of struggling and at-risk students), I've always found it odd that taxpayers in this city and state put up with this. It is an outrage, a fact this book acknowledges in its otherwise measured and dispassionate analysis, amply supported by evidence gathered while the editors and authors researched education opportunity and equity at Berkeley High School in Berkeley, California.

The last fifty pages or so, in which Berkeley High School students add their voices to this story, are the most interesting of the book. We teachers need to encourage and listen to more discourses from students themselves about the shortcomings of our schools. As one student asks, rhetorically, "How could a discussion of student achievement and equity happen without the voice of students? In any type of real change within a system, the voice of the people who are directly affected must be part of the solution." Enough said!… (more)

Noguera's views of education reform are colored by anecdote: he has been around the block, seen schools struggle with closing the achievement gap, and worked with poor minority students. "City Schools" has an optimistic tone, but many of conclusions are vague and politically oriented: the reference to Paolo Freire's "Pedagogy of the Oppressed" in the last chapter betray his leftist viewpoint. Which in itself is not a bad thing, but Noguera recycles a lot of the buzzwords - like "empowerment"- that have been in vogue in education schools since the '70s, with very little effect on the real world of the classroom.… (more)

This collection of essays covers a number of topics in education and educational reform. Like much of educational research, it is heavy on the anecdote and light on the data, but it is generally sensible. Prof. Noguera emphasizes the role racial identity plays in the observed behavior of black boys: the defensiveness that turns into agression, the posturing, and the discipline problems. He insists that students have to be seen as playing a role in their own development--they are not passive receptors, but have some responsibility for their own behavior.

Much of the rest of the book is concerned with educational reform. Here Noguera draws on sociology to argue that the development of social capital in poor neighborhoods could lead to significant improvements in urbal education. In addition, he argues that schools could play an important part in the development of that capital by allowing poor parents of color to organize, lobby, and shape the educational policies that cripple inner-city schools.… (more)