2024 the best high school in nyc review

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In this powerful, eloquent story of his return to the classroom, a former teacher offers a rousing defense of his beleaguered vocation

Perhaps no profession is so constantly discussed, regulated, and maligned by non-practitioners as teaching. The voices of the teachers themselves are conspicuously missing. Defying this trend, teacher and writer Garret Keizer takes us to school―literally―in this arresting account of his return to the same rural Vermont high school where he taught fourteen years ago.

Much has changed since then―a former student is his principal, standardized testing is the reigning god, and smoking in the boys' room has been supplanted by texting in the boys' room. More familiar are the effects of poverty, the exuberance of youth, and the staggering workload that technology has done as much to increase as to lighten. Telling the story of Keizer's year in the classroom, Getting Schooled takes us everywhere a teacher might go: from field trips to school plays to town meetings, from a kid's eureka moment to a parent's dark night of the soul.

At once fiercely critical and deeply contemplative, Keizer exposes the obstacles that teachers face daily―and along the way takes aim at some cherished cant: that public education is doomed, that the heroic teacher is the cure for all that ails education, that educational reform can serve as a cheap substitute for societal reformation.

Angry, humorous, and always hopeful, Getting Schooled is as good an argument as we are likely to hear for a substantive reassessment of our schools and those who struggle in them.

Publisher ‏ : ‎ Metropolitan Books; First Edition (August 5, 2014)
Language ‏ : ‎ English
Hardcover ‏ : ‎ 320 pages
ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 0805096434
ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0805096439
Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 14.4 ounces
Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 5.63 x 1.08 x 8.45 inches
Reviewer: an interested reader
Rating: 5.0 out of 5 stars
Title: I felt like I was there!
Review: I love this book! It does what the best of books do, takes me into another world, in this case a school in northern Vermont. I felt, reading this, that I was really there, got a sense of what it was like to teach in a down at heels rural area. You see what hard work it is to keep a class on track, get the kids on your side, how many things can go wrong— this is a guy who’s not afraid to admit his own errors. Sounds like a pretty terrific school, actually, great teachers who give their all, great principal. Keizer writes with love and feeling for Vermont and for the kids he teaches, yet there’s a sharp edge, too, acerbic social commentary, a rapier wit, as he shows you what the kids are up against, what the teachers are up against.“My kids live in a country that holds more of its citizens under correctional supervision than the gulag did under Stalin, that at one point spent two billion dollars a week on a war in Afghanistan, that has experienced the most devastating financial meltdown since the Great Depression, that counts childhood lucky…if it manages to avoid being raped in its bedroom or shot dead in its school.”It’s a loving book, written with warmth, generosity, humor, humanity. And it’s rare and wonderful to read such good writing.

Reviewer: Pepin Lady
Rating: 5.0 out of 5 stars
Title: Deeply felt, beautifully written, and a must-read for anyone who cares about public education
Review: I have been a fan of Garret Keizer since his first book many years ago, and I look forward immensely to anything he writes. He always makes me think in new ways. As he leads me through his passionate views about issues that matter, he unobtrusively entertains me with deeply human anecdotes and personal stories. His meticulous prose is a delight to anyone who cares about writing, carefully crafted and shiningly clear, blessedly free of bland generalizations. In "Getting Schooled," he tells his readers not only about the problems and pleasures of teaching high school in an economically challenged and isolated corner of Vermont but also about the troubled state of American education today. He does not shout, he does not rant, he talks quietly but with great feeling. I felt privileged to listen.A retired teacher myself, though not in high school nor under the challenging conditions Garret Keizer faced, I only wish I could have known him as a colleague. His commitment, his astonishing creativity in his classrooms, and his realistic depictions of ups and downs both in and out of those classrooms, would have encouraged and inspired me.I hope I do not have to wait too long for his next book.

Reviewer: Mjt407
Rating: 4.0 out of 5 stars
Title: Relatable ...so many accurate anecdotes, concerns and trials of teaching.
Review: Teachers will find themselves nodding in agreement, feeling validated for their shared level of frustration, and ultimately satisfied with their choice of reading material after this one. Recommended.

Reviewer: Sincostani
Rating: 3.0 out of 5 stars
Title: A great teacher who hates teaching
Review: I've never worked as an educator, but am curious about issues in education and so read this book with interest. My overarching impression during reading this book was that Mr. Keizer really hates his job as a teacher. Unlike many people who hate their job, however, he still puts in as much effort as he's able to and seems to excel at it. Then again, I know people in other professions who are so committed to excellence that I suspect the amount of work they put in might be the reason they hate their fields.The tone throughout the book is critical and often sarcastic, and though I found myself largely sympathetic to his ideas, after a while the negativity became tiring even to read. I can only imagine how overwhelming the experiences must have been to the author himself. Mr. Keizer obviously cares a lot about his students and the (sad) state of education today, and expresses his opinions forcefully and clearly. Overall a very worthwhile read.Note: I received this book free in exchange for an honest review as part of LibraryThing's early reviewer program.

Reviewer: bscs
Rating: 5.0 out of 5 stars
Title: "Educational Reform" has little to do with good education.
Review: Garret Keizer had taught for many years and then retired to write books instead. But to have health insurance, he decides to return to teaching after 10 years away. And things have changed, not necessarily for the better. As a retired teacher, I understood completely his dissatisfaction with the new requirements in education. Education Reform is forced on teachers by politicians who have no idea what it really takes to teach. It was my experience that the emphasis on standardized tests, with the teacher's career at stake if students do poorly, without taking into consideration all other things impacting a student's performance, is a recipe for failure. Teachers will do whatever they are instructed to do, even when they know it is poor education. They are told what to say, what to write, what to teach, and administrators come in unannounced to catch teachers not obeying. Individual differences among students is not acknowledged. Everyone will perform at a particular level which often seems to be an arbitrary wish. So all aspects of the curriculum which don't contribute to the test score no longer are taught. Art, music, current events,physical education are not on the test. Mr. Keizer learned first hand the changes education had undergone since he was last in a classroom and wrote about them in a clear, reasonable way. If only politicians read books.