There Are No Shortcuts: How An Inner-City Teacher--Winner Of The American Teacher Award--Inspires His Students And Challenges Us To Rethink The Way We Educate Our Children

FROM THE PUBLISHER

"The banner in Rafe Esquith's classroom at Hobart Elementary School reads: "There are no shortcuts." And his students are a testament to the power of that philosophy. These are kids who speak English as a second language, fourth- and fifth-graders who go to school in a part of Los Angeles where violence and despair are the norms of the neighborhood. But the statistics are not what you'd expect: Esquith's students score in the country's top 10 percent on standardized tests and go on to colleges such as Harvard, Princeton, University of Chicago, Swarthmore, Stanford, and UCLA. How do they do it?" "Esquith's view - that learning isn't easy and that it shouldn't be - is an increasingly unusual take among educators. Success, he believes, comes from a strong work ethic and from dedication and perseverance on the part of children, teachers, and parents alike.