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Ghosts in the Schoolyard
- Racism and School Closings in Chicago’s South Side
- Narrated by: Lisa Reneé Pitts
- Length: 6 hrs and 48 mins
- Categories: Education & Learning, Education
Non-member price: $24.37
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Publisher's Summary
Eve L. Ewing knows Chicago Public Schools from the inside: as a student, then a teacher, and now a scholar who studies them. And that perspective has shown her that public schools are not buildings full of failures - they're an integral part of their neighborhoods, at the heart of their communities, storehouses of history and memory that bring people together.
Never was that role more apparent than in 2013 when Mayor Rahm Emanuel announced an unprecedented wave of school closings. Pitched simultaneously as a solution to a budget problem, a response to declining enrollments, and a chance to purge bad schools that were dragging down the whole system, the plan was met with a roar of protest from parents, students, and teachers. But if these schools were so bad, why did people care so much about keeping them open?
Ewing's answer begins with a story of systemic racism, inequality, bad faith, and distrust that stretches deep into Chicago history. Black communities see the closing of their schools - schools that are certainly less than perfect but that are theirs - as one more in a long line of racist policies. The fight to keep them open is yet another front in the ongoing struggle of black people in America to build successful lives and achieve true self-determination.
PLEASE NOTE: When you purchase this title, the accompanying PDF will be available in your Audible Library along with the audio.
Critic Reviews
"Ewing is a Harvard-trained sociologist as well as a poet and an educator (among other things), and this comes through in her lively and accessible writing." (Booklist, starred review)
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What listeners say about Ghosts in the Schoolyard
Reviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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Overall
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- Great Reviewer
- 07-05-2020
Great Reviewer
I found the subject matter to be a very emotional experience for me! Great research!
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- Christopher
- 12-11-2019
Powerful story - Speaks Truth to Power
Eve Ewing is a phenomenal writer and Lisa Renee Pitts is brings so much life to Eve’s words in her reading. I learned so much about systemic racism and the history of segregationist policies in Chicago through this book. Great entry point for some, great new chapter in the ongoing story of race in American education for others. Highly recommend.
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