We often hear about the growing divide between rich and poor in America. This compelling exposé, backed by up-to-date research, locates the source of this trend where we might least expect to find it–in our schools. Written for a wide audience, Tearing Down the Gates is a powerful indictment of American education that shows how schools, colleges, and universities exacerbate inequality by providing ample opportunities for advantaged students while shutting the gate… More >>
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Tearing Down the Gates: Confronting the Class Divide in American Education
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#1 by Will Barratt on June 30, 2010 - 11:17 pm
I read a lot about social class, especially in higher education, and Sacks hits most of the high points about class accurately. He identifies the social mechanisms that are used to place students into groups and points out clearly the class bias in all of these practices. If you do or don’t know much about social class in the US this is an important book.
His analysis of social mechanisms and testing is not too deep, but it is accurate. Readers wanting to know more about ability, aptitude, intelligence, and campus based testing should read some books on psychometrics, and Sacks references some good literature. There are some interesting and trivial errors and omissions that are probably the editor’s fault and don’t detract from his basic message about how class is perpetuated in the US school systems.
As we enter the new gilded age it is important to have our eyes opened to how class systematically helps some people and hinders others in schools.
Rating: 4 / 5
#2 by Deborah Meier on July 1, 2010 - 1:45 am
It’s sometimes easwier to talk about race rather than class–but this is a subject that’s been unresolved since the very beginnings of American public education–and long before that. It’s even part of the testing and NCLB debate. The author tackles it in ways that are original, personal and sociologically fascinating. A very good read.
Rating: 5 / 5
#3 by John Deere on July 1, 2010 - 2:12 am
This was a compelling book. As a former educator, I honestly hadn’t given much thought to some of the points that Sacks makes. Its hard to deny what he says. Sacks intertwines entertaining stories along the way making this a very readable book. My favorite part is when Sacks gets kicked off the Berkeley High campus during his research. This is a great read for anyone involved in education, any student getting ready to go to college, or anyone looking for an entertaining book on the state of our society. Good work Sacks.
Rating: 5 / 5
#4 by Kate Lawrence on July 1, 2010 - 4:47 am
I normally don’t read books about education. But if there’s one non-fiction book a parent, teacher, or student ought to read to understand the American education system nowadays, this would be that book.
Peter Sacks does a great job of showing why we all should care about the growing educational inequalities regardless of where you might fall in the class divide. He does an especially good job of telling stories of students, parents, teachers and others while giving readers who want data and facts a lot to chew on as well.
This is an important book that should be required reading for politicians, educators and parents.
Rating: 5 / 5
#5 by Marty Hatley on July 1, 2010 - 6:30 am
Peter Sacks is a talented writer. He proved his skill in his craft in chapters 11 and 12. However, the rest of this book is laced with political poison that is helpful to no one. Sacks is correct in his identification of the problem – poor people have less mobility economically and socially. “[The southern strategy] appealed to a festering white anger and racism in the wake of historic civil rights movement turned the South upside down (page 313).” Sacks does not try to make any effort to show that modern day Republicans rebuke racial inequalities. He also does not make any effort to show how Democrats made the same mistakes.
I wanted to read this book to gain insights on how to REPAIR a situation that is undeniably providing more opportunities to be more mobile socially and economically for middle and upper class students. Instead, I read 317 pages of excuses why there is a problem. On page 309, Sacks wrote, “I don’t suggest that higher education should be a universal attainment. But it should be a universal opportunity.” I could not agree more with Sacks on this point. As a matter of fact, I was geared up to read a book with this theme being reiterated throughout.
The insight Sacks provides about the students in chapters 11 and 12 was eye opening and very beneficial. The benefits are understanding the thinking of the poor, and why the decisions they make or don’t make seem to allude the “common sense” of other socioeconomic classes. Instead of creating an air of collaboration, Sacks alienates a large section of the population by providing a very limited perspective. If students are respected, or even loved, by their teachers, the faculty will find a way to eliminate that “X-Factor” that keeps poverty students from performing as well as their potential. Those students have to be educated not only on content but also the rules and expectations of other classes than just the lower socioeconomic class.
Rating: 1 / 5