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And Still We Rise: The Trials and Triumphs of Twelve Gifted Inner-City Students

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And Still We Rise: The Trials and Triumphs of Twelve Gifted Inner-City Students

By: Miles Corwin  

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Average Customer Rating: 4.5 out of 5

Description:

Bestselling author of The Killing Season and veteran Los Angeles Times reporter Miles Corwin spent a school year with twelve high school seniors -- South-Central kids who qualified for a gifted program because of theur exceptional IQs and test scores. Sitting alongside them in classrooms where bullets were known to rip through windows, Corwin chronicled their amazing odyssey as they faced the greatest challenges of their academic lives. And Still We Rise is an unforgettable story of transcending obstacles that would dash the hopes of any but the most exceptional spirits.



Description:
The typical image of South-Central Los Angeles doesn't lend itself to peaceful and productive high schools. But as Los Angeles Times reporter Miles Corwin chronicles in this troubling yet uplifting book, the ills of the inner city have not completely defeated Toni Little's advanced-placement students at Crenshaw High School, with whom Corwin spent the 1996-1997 academic year as a silent observer. Having grown weary of writing about gang violence, drive-by shootings, and drug arrests, Corwin wanted "to find a way to write about the other children of South-Central, the students who avoid the temptations of the street, who strive for success, who, against all odds, in one of America's most impoverished, crime-ridden neighborhoods, manage to endure, to prevail, to succeed." He also wanted to show "how truly slanted the playing field remains, how inequality is built into a system touted as a meritocracy." Though 98 percent of the students in the gifted program go on to attend college, it takes a near superhuman effort for them to reach graduation day. In And Still We Rise, Corwin details exactly why.

Corwin's poignant portraits of the students and his sensitive evocation of the effort it requires for them to pursue their education are among the many strengths of the book. There's Olivia, the abused former runaway, ward of the county, and gifted student; Sadikifu, the promising Muslim rapper who constantly fights the gritty allure of gang life; and Toya, who lost her own mom to domestic violence and who struggles to balance schoolwork and motherhood. Corwin further explores the intricate intersections of affirmative action, educational expectations, urban neglect, and racism. By turns shocking and inspiring, this is journalistic work that gets to the core of its subject to reveal students who "value education, sacrifice much to further their educations, and overcome many obstacles--including even their own teachers--in order to obtain their educations." It shouldn't be so hard. --Eugene Holley Jr.

Publisher: Harper Perennial

Release Date: 2001-03-20

Customer Review: 5 out of 5
Revealing and insightful - This book is the first documentary that I've read that I could not put down. It offers great insight into the life of inner city school kids who struggle with so much more than the average high school student. As a student at an elite university and an LA native, I am shocked at how different the paths that lead to college are for people who might be sitting right next to each other in class. It is a must read for anybody who thinks affirmative action is unfair and who believes that everybody has equal rights in the USA. The playing field has to be leveled and this book shows you why.

Customer Review: 5 out of 5
Bright Spots in Blight Places - This is an extraordinary tale following children who, against all the odds, seem to find comfort and safe haven in their desire to learn. I was fascinated by the struggle to see the next step for some of these kids, however. Even though they clearly value the education they are getting, the giant leap from the struggles of a neighborhood High School to a distant College Campus seems to really define how hard it is for these kids to break the cycle of poverty and broken homes most have experienced.

I am not an educator. I was motivated to buy this book after hearing it recommended on Imus. I thoroughly enjoyed the experience, and wonder what it will take to overhaul our dismal education systems.

Customer Review: 5 out of 5
A Quiet Crisis - I fell in love with South Central Los Angeles through reading this book. Corwin has this style of writing that is so elegant and wordy and, ugh! I can't put into words how much this book meant to me. I just finished a class on Multicultural Education and this book was a required text. Through reading this book and "Affirming Diversity" by Sonia Nieto, which I highly recommend for anyone in the teaching field or entering into the teaching field, I was able to connect the information I was reading in the textbook to the real life examples Corwin writes about. The stories of these twelve teens are compelling and my emotions soared throughout the book. Corwin educates readers about affirmative action, resistance theory, and other theories involved in the education system through his writing of experiences in Crenshaw High School. I can't stress enough how much I recommend this book to any reader. It is life changing.

Customer Review: 5 out of 5
Compeling Commentary - "And Still We Rise" was a compelling look at a group of students rarely disscussed. Inner city students who not only go to school to get by but against great odds are able to beat the odds and succeed in school. "And Still We Rise" follows a group of students attending Crenshaw High School enrolled in their gifted students program. "And Still We Rise" looks at the daily obsticals and pitfalls of the gifted program students face as they try to attain a better life through education. "And Still We Rise" also causes those of us in the educational community to question the way we look present day educational issues as well as our students. "And Still We Rise" is both inspirational as well as insightfull. I highly recommend this book for all people, especially those in education.

Customer Review: 3 out of 5
A Conversation Piece - I read "And Still We Rise" aloud with two friends, and we were then able to discuss each chapter, which I found very helpful with this book. "And Still We Rise" is emotionally laden with questions, and inspires conversation about the state of affairs in our country, our inner cities, our schools and our homes. The book is dense with remarks which make a person question his own beliefs, or her previously unchallenged opinions.

Though his writing style is not as smooth or polished as I would have liked, at times, Corwin's heart is in the right place and he seeks to convey the classes and students in a realistic light. He does a good job at providing a complete picture of each of his main character students.

I also recommend "Makes me Wanna Holler" by Nathan McCall, about the journey of one black man growing up in the inner city, and "Cultural Literacy: What Every American Needs to Know" by E.D. Hirsch, Jr. Reading "Cultural Literacy" in the midst of the Little/Moultrie argument about curriculum provides an interesting discourse.

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