''Hope and Despair in the American City: Why There Are No Bad Schools in Raleigh'' is a 2009 book by Gerald Grant, published by
Harvard University Press
Harvard University Press (HUP) is a publishing house established on January 13, 1913, as a division of Harvard University, and focused on academic publishing. It is a member of the Association of American University Presses. After the retirem ...
.
The book's argument is that the
Wake County School District of
Raleigh, North Carolina
Raleigh (; ) is the capital city of the state of North Carolina and the List of North Carolina county seats, seat of Wake County, North Carolina, Wake County in the United States. It is the List of municipalities in North Carolina, second-most ...
has a more functional public school system than the
Syracuse City School District because the former has merged economically disparate areas in the same school system and has socioeconomically balanced enrollment at its schools.
Grant stated that political decisions and not what Grant describes as "conscious racism" damaged the Syracuse district. In the words of Richard Arum of
New York University
New York University (NYU) is a private research university in New York City. Chartered in 1831 by the New York State Legislature, NYU was founded by a group of New Yorkers led by then-Secretary of the Treasury Albert Gallatin.
In 1832, the ...
, Grant argued that the Wake County district was "exemplary".
The subtitle of the book refers to a saying that was made after the Wake County district, formed from a previous inner city and a previous suburban school district to merge socioeconomic and racial groups, was created.
Regina Smardon described the work as both "a masterful ethnographic survey" and a "brilliant demographic analysis".
Background
Grant originated from
Syracuse, New York
Syracuse ( ) is a City (New York), city in and the county seat of Onondaga County, New York, Onondaga County, New York, United States. It is the fifth-most populous city in the state of New York following New York City, Buffalo, New York, Buffa ...
. He had his high school education in that city. He later worked for the ''
Washington Post
''The Washington Post'' (also known as the ''Post'' and, informally, ''WaPo'') is an American daily newspaper published in Washington, D.C. It is the most widely circulated newspaper within the Washington metropolitan area and has a large nati ...
'' in writing articles about education, then got into a PhD program at the
Harvard Graduate School of Education
The Harvard Graduate School of Education (HGSE) is the education school of Harvard University, a private research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1920, it was the first school to grant the EdD degree and the first Harvard school ...
, which he completed, and began working for
Syracuse University
Syracuse University (informally 'Cuse or SU) is a Private university, private research university in Syracuse, New York. Established in 1870 with roots in the Methodist Episcopal Church, the university has been nonsectarian since 1920. Locate ...
as a professor.
[Glazer.]
Contents
The use of Syracuse as the counterexample is done to show how
de facto
''De facto'' ( ; , "in fact") describes practices that exist in reality, whether or not they are officially recognized by laws or other formal norms. It is commonly used to refer to what happens in practice, in contrast with ''de jure'' ("by la ...
educational segregation is prevalent in the northern United States.
[Smardon, p. 440.]
Reception
Arum concluded that the book is "a compelling historical account."
[Arum, p. 448.] Arum argued that the author should have put more focus on student tracking done in Wake County; the author asserted that standards were maintained in classes for students on lower levels of tracking.
[
Smardon, who graduated from the Syracuse district, stated that the book explained to her "nagging questions" about academic failure in that district.][
]Publishers Weekly
''Publishers Weekly'' (''PW'') is an American weekly trade news magazine targeted at publishers, librarians, booksellers, and literary agents. Published continuously since 1872, it has carried the tagline, "The International News Magazine of B ...
described it as "a must-read for anyone interested in" the book's respective fields.
See also
* ''The World We Created at Hamilton High
''The World We Created at Hamilton High'' is a 1988 non-fiction book by Gerald Grant, published by Harvard University Press.
The book documents the educational history of a high school in the Northeastern United States that the work refers to as " ...
'' - Another book by Grant
* '' The End of Consensus'' - A book about the disestablishment of the socioeconomic balancing program in Wake County
References
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See article at
Gale Academic Onefile
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Notes
Further reading
; Reviews
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; Other
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External links
*
Hope and Despair in the American City
' - Harvard University Press
Harvard University Press (HUP) is a publishing house established on January 13, 1913, as a division of Harvard University, and focused on academic publishing. It is a member of the Association of American University Presses. After the retirem ...
*
Hope and Despair in the American City: Why There Are No Bad Schools in Raleigh
' - Available at JSTOR
JSTOR (; short for ''Journal Storage'') is a digital library founded in 1995 in New York City. Originally containing digitized back issues of academic journals, it now encompasses books and other primary sources as well as current issues of j ...
{{Education in Wake County, North Carolina
2009 books
Harvard University Press books
Books about New York (state)
Syracuse, New York
Raleigh, North Carolina
Wake County, North Carolina
Books about North Carolina