A Hope in the Unseen
A Hope in the Unseen. Ron Suskind. New York: Broadway Books, 1998.
Based on the author's 1994 Pulitzer Prize-winning series in the Wall Street Journal, this book chronicles the odyssey of an African American high school student, Cedric Jennings, from the halls of the District of Columbia's tough Frank W. Ballou High School to the ivied gates of Brown University. Suskind attempts, quite successfully, to lift journalism to the realm of story.
The characters are real, and most retain their real names. Cedric, the bright protagonist, is second in his class in a school where such success can be dangerous. Barbara, his mother, stubbornly focuses on keeping her son on track so that he can escape the streets. We meet his father, the grown-up vision of the kind of life the son seeks to avoid. A cast of others includes Bishop C. L. Long, the Pentecostal preacher at Scripture Cathedral where mother and son worship, as well as friends and teachers from high school and college.
We meet Cedric as he hides in the sanctuary of a favorite teacher's classroom to avoid the awards assembly where his recognition would have meant certain derision from fellow students. Kids in tough, urban schools have a choice to make: social acceptance or academic achievement. Many choose the former and thereby close the door to escape. A few choose academics and suffer the resulting loneliness and rejection that are part of a chance at a better life. Cedric is not that much different from his peers, but he has imposed exile upon himself. It is not a choice easily sustained. Looking through his eyes, we see the frightening bulk of the obstacles before him and sense the ever present, agonizing uncertainty that keeps him on edge. Will his skills, so impressive in one world, be truly competitive and noteworthy in the world he so desperately wishes to enter?
Educators will find this book engaging, of course, because it is about education. But it also probes the engines that must drive academic accomplishment: family and community support and values, spiritual strength and identity, individual discipline and commitment. The journey from high school to college is about more than courses and credits. It is a journey of self-discovery and reorientation.
Cedric's struggle to navigate through the storm that builds when cultures collide and clash—the inner city and the Ivy League—lets Suskind share what he sees as a particularly American narrative. For Suskind, a white reporter from the Establishment who is following this black student looking for his chance, shared understandings can bridge racial distinctions. The black experience and the white experience are threads in the weave of the American fabric.
Suskind meets this challenge meticulously and skillfully. He has given us a book of great heart, rendered with sensitivity and understanding. The manner of its telling is every bit as inspiring as the story itself.
Published by Bantam Doubleday Dell Publishing Group, Inc., 1540 Broadway, New York, NY 10036. Price: $25.
—Reviewed by Don Wesley, Principal, Orchard Park High School, Orchard Park, New York.
Reaching Up for Manhood
Reaching Up for Manhood. Geoffrey Canada. Boston: Beacon Press, 1998.
This book is about the possibility of a better life for all kids but especially for inner-city boys. The titles of Canada's chapters could not be more appropriate to the subject: "Healing," "Faith," "Work," "Mentors."
Canada begins the narrative of this memoir with the realization that nearly all the boys he grew up with died as young men. They have left in their wake children, particularly boys, who lack the guidance necessary to lead good lives. Believing that these boys are likely to run into trouble, Canada accepts the challenge their lives offer him.
The 160-page story is a thoughtful guide to, and reflection on, "transforming the lives of boys in America." Canada's book offers instruction and insight for counselors, teachers, and anyone else whose business is to help boys "reach up for manhood." The book's narrative style and clear prose make it an engaging read, one that teaches by story.
Published by Beacon Press, 25 Beacon St., Boston, MA 02108-2892. Price: $22.
—Reviewed by Jim Burke, San Francisco, California.
Children's Social Consciousness and the Development of Social Responsibility
Children's Social Consciousness and the Development of Social Responsibility. Sheldon Berman. Albany, N.Y.: State University of New York Press, 1997
The efforts by U.S. educators to prepare their students for social responsibility are fraught with sins of omission and commission, according to the author. By synthesizing numerous studies, Sheldon Berman provides convincing evidence to support his disturbing thesis.
Current textbooks and teaching strategies obstruct rather than enhance thoughtful democratic participation by our student-citizens. Teachers erroneously treat democracy as something we have already acquired: They believe that they simply need to teach students to understand democracy and how to conform to the established laws and policies. Schools ought to approach democracy as an experiment in process that requires active participation by all citizens, including K–12 learners.
Berman systematically analyzes recent research and finds two essential cornerstones for an integrated K–12 curriculum: supporting learning experiences in the earliest years of schooling and extending education for social responsibility beyond social studies into all aspects of the curriculum. Classroom teachers, curriculum planners, school administrators, and social scientists will find the discussion of instructional strategies both relevant and practical.
Published by the State University of New York Press, State University Plaza, Albany, NY 12246. Price: $17.95.
—Reviewed by Roger Bennett, Southwest Missouri State University, Springfield, Missouri.
