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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
And Still We Rise - This is a very good book! A very good read! This book comes highly recommended by my 2 children who didn't want to put down the book while they were reading it. However, I wouldn't recommend children under 8th-9th grade reading this book. This book does have detailed trial/triumphs in it that younger children might not fully understand. Very good book!

Customer Review: 5 out of 5
Great inside look at a tough school - A powerful and insightful book, with compelling stories about South Central L.A. kids who are trying to succeed, against all odds. Corwin is a very good writer, and he burrows deep into the lives of the students. Highly recommended.

Customer Review: 4 out of 5
A Life Changing Book - I lived in Suburbia my whole life and I heard about these kinds of stories all throughout my life. Corwin did an amazing job illustrating every student's life. These students go through so much to get intellectually stimulated and to have an education with their peers. I enjoyed how he also dedicated some chapters to the administration and the teachers and all the things that surround the students and the teachers lives -- Affirmative Action, the school, the city, etc. It was a bit confusing since the chapters are named after a student but in between are the daily class stories so it can be a bit confusing. But this is a definite recommended read.

Customer Review: 4 out of 5
Extraordinary... - to have more than just glimpse into the hearts, souls and spirits of these hard-working,driven,focused and gifted inner-city children. When we think our struggles are exhausting, theirs were 10X as great. I've read a number of books, all well-written on similiar subjects "A Hope in The Unseen by Ron Suskind" is another excellent read), but in this book I found Miles Corwin wrote in such a way that I was so moved by his character development of each and every one of the twelve students and even his own involvments and deep feelings. Their circumstances,each unique in their own right, were written in such a way that I could FEEL what they were experiencing. I empathized with their struggles and pain,limited resources of their school system (i.e lack of books and computers), their dissapointments,disquiet,anger,anxiety,fears,loneliness, abandonment,allienation from their own peers, community and sometimes family,and ultimately...the joys of their triumph.
I was spellbound and deeply moved.

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.

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