Authors to speak on problems with city school systems
Urban schools face problems not because of the students but because of the system they are in, according to a book by three professors from New York City.
Gaston Alonso, Celina Su and Jeanne Theoharis, authors of ‘Our Schools Suck: Students Talk Back to a Segregated Nation on the Failures of Urban Education,’ will speak Thursday at 4 p.m. in 220 Eggers Hall. Their lecture is part of Syracuse University’s School of Education’s Landscape of Urban Education Lecture Series. Their book, released in 2009, details the problems of urban education and who is to blame for them.
The three are all associate professors of political science at Brooklyn College of the City University of New York and wrote their book to shed light onto the growing problems facing public education, especially in urban areas, according to the book’s website. In the book, the authors discuss the root of these problems by including the voice of young black and Latino students who are told they are the problem with the public school system, according to the website.
George Theoharis, associate professor in SU’s School of Education and a coordinator, said the book is unique because it looks at urban education from the rarely seen perspective of the urban student.
‘Hopefully, the lecture will challenge students’ assumptions of urban students and maybe change students’ minds about urban education,’ he said.
George also said he is excited about what the three speakers can add to the School of Education’s series and proud to see his sister, Jeanne, present her work.
‘One of my favorite things about her lecture is that my colleagues were the ones who wanted to bring her, Su and Alonso to SU, which means my sister is getting recognition for her work without me advocating for it,’ George said.
John Jardin, a sophomore education and mathematics major, said he is interested to learn more about the issues discussed in ‘Our Schools Suck.’
‘As someone going into education, I see that there are some flaws in the public school system,’ Jardin said. ‘And I am interested to see what changes current educators think need to be made.’
Published on March 2, 2011 at 12:00 pm
