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Learning in Public: Lessons for a Racially Divided America from My Daughter's School

Learning in Public: Lessons for a Racially Divided America from My Daughter's School

by Courtney E. Martin

Little, Brown and Company ·2021 ·380 pages ·Culture
Maybe Someday
Maybe Someday
I Index
48/99
Maybe Someday

34/99

Critics

Near the Top

63/99

Readers

n/a

Scholars

15/99

Rating

52/99

Volume

78/99

Rating

48/99

Volume

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About This Book

One mother's story of enrolling her daughter in a local public school, and the surprising, necessary lessons she learned with her neighbors. From the time Courtney E. Martin strapped her daughter, Maya, to her chest for long walks, she was curious about Emerson Elementary, a public school down the street from her Oakland home. She learned that White families in their gentrifying neighborhood largely avoided the majority-Black, poorly rated school. As she began asking why, a journey of a thousand moral miles began. Learning in Public is the story--not just Martin's journey, but a whole country's. Many of us are newly awakened to the continuing racial injustice all around us but are unsure of how to go beyond hashtags and yard signs to be part of transforming the country. Martin discovered that her public school, the foundation of our fragile democracy, is a powerful place to dig deeper. She examined her own fears, assumptions, and conversations with other parents as they navigated school choice. A vivid portrait of integration's virtues and complexities, and the palpable joy of trying to live differently in a country re-making itself, Learning in Public might also set your family's life on a different course forever.


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Reviews

"brisk, immersive chapters ..."

Publishers Weekly Read review ↗ Top of the Pile

"we also need accounts like Martin's: better cultural models for how White families can show up in schools, not as saviors or anxious hoarders of opportunity, but as people participating equally in a community with peers of all backgrounds."

Conor P. Williams· The Washington Post Read review ↗ Near the Top

"It is, by design, a largely one-sided narrative, but one that many readers, especially parents of young children, will appreciate."

Sarah Schroeder· Library Journal Read review ↗ Near the Top

"An honest, searching, and progressive book that will spark debate."

Kirkus Read review ↗ Near the Top

"To anyone who has been conscious of race for a lifetime, these books can't help feeling less brave than curiously backward ..."

Danzy Senna· The Atlantic Read review ↗ Bottom of the Pile

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