Customer Reviews

Crazy Like a Fox: One Principal's Triumph in the Inner City

5 star:		(19)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(0)
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"Crazy Like a Fox" is a mesmerizing book. I expected a tedious account of an attempt to bring a school back from the edge, but after a page or two, I discovered I couldn't put it down. Carey Blakely's writing makes an interesting story even more captivating. What Ben Chavez accomplished, how he did it and how Blakely tells the story makes for one of the best books I've read this year. I won't ruin the fun by saying more about the story. I hope everyone in education, every parent and all the people who love to read will get this book.

STOP THE PRESSES!!!!

Crazy Like A Fox is one of the three best books on education I've ever read. (My other two all-time favorite books are both by Jay Mathews: Escalante, the best book about an individual teacher, and Work Hard, Be Nice, the best book about entrepreneurship in education, building one school into a national network.)

Crazy Like A Fox rounds out the list. It is by far the best book I've ever read in explaining, in no uncertain terms, exactly what is the No Excuses educational philosophy, which is shared by nearly every school that successfully educates low-income, minority children. As such, this book should be required reading for every teacher and principal who is educating such kids.

The book is written by Dr. Ben Chavis, who turned around the worst school in Oakland, the American Indian Public Charter School, and has expanded it to five charter schools in the city, all of which are among the top 1% of public schools in California and three of which are in the top 10 schools statewide according to the state's Academic Performance Index scores. These results certainly aren't due to favorable demographics -- in fact, at the original AIPCS school, 97% of the students qualify for free and reduced-price lunch, 98% are minorities and 74% speak English as a second language.

Chavis has an amazing story, starting with his childhood of extreme poverty in rural North Carolina with a violent and largely absent father. He says that of all of the inner-city Oakland students who've ever attended one of his schools, not one of them had a childhood as bad as his -- and he's no doubt right. Chavis describes himself as "a country Indian from the South, who was a sharecropper with uneducated parents, who paid his way through college and sent his family money each semester, and who graduated from a state university..."

But what's most interesting to me is his version of the No Excuses philosophy of how to educate poor, minority children. It's similar to other comparable high-performing schools, but Chavis takes it to an extreme. It starts with his Golden Rule: "If you act like a fool, you'll be treated like a fool. If you act like a winner, you'll be treated like a winner." He lavishes praise and will do anything for kids who work hard and play by the rules -- but woe unto the student who acts like a fool. To them, Chavis turns into one of the craziest, scariest, meanest dudes on the planet. Ditto for parents and teachers who act like fools. He's borderline crazy (and proud of it), but it works!

There are two reasons why this is such a great book: A) It's filled with great advice and wisdom that any educator will find useful (even if one doesn't agree with all of it); and B) It's the most entertainingly politically incorrect book I've ever read -- by far! He speaks harsh truths and takes special joy in debunking left-wing dingbat liberal dogma.

I heartily recommend that you take time to get to know Dr. Ben Chavis, former principal of the inner-city, Oakland, CA, American Indian Charter Public School (AIPCS), by reading his book, Crazy like a Fox. This book is especially for all those who are concerned and saddened about the current abysmal performance of so many U.S. K-12 schools. This book will either confirm your belief that we can do better educating our children, or it will--if you keep an open mind--challenge your progressive beliefs about the ingredients required for a successful school. It will either confirm your belief that performance is about more than money, food, computers, empathy, self esteem, and politically correct nostrums; or it will hopefully shatter those progressive beliefs which have so clearly failed our failing children.

Ben Chavis has now taken his education model public, after turning around AIPCS, turning it around with family, good books, good teachers, a back-to-basics focus, structure, discipline, high expectations, a taste of free market capitalism, accountability and his unique disdain for educational orthodoxy: "Multicultural specialists, ultraliberal zealots, and college-tainted oppression liberators need not apply [for teaching jobs]." But success was not foreordained for his school. In fact, it was just one vote away--within days of Dr. Chavis taking over as principal--from being ordered closed by the school board. I invite you to follow his rescue and recovery, as he replaces a broken faculty, and fixes a dysfunctional curriculum, and imposes structure and discipline on a school without either. On his journey, Dr. Chavis will take away student computers and refuse to offer the federal school lunch program. He will take mirrors out of the student restrooms and require students and parents sign contracts. He will emphasize perfect attendance for all students, paying students at year end if they have zero unexcused absences, and his attendance rates will climb each year from around 65% to about 98%. He will require teachers focus on teaching language arts (reading, writing, grammar) and math each class day, allocating 90 minutes to each subject. He will adopt an educational model that focuses on the student, requiring approved texts, retaining only quality teachers, administering a program of accountability with an emphasis on rewards for achievement and punishment for misconduct.

And during that time, gradually building on success, his middle school's performance results will slowly climb from subterranean levels to the top of the performance charts, reaching the magic 800, the benchmark of excellence on the California Academic Performance Index, subsequently with breakneck speed the scores climb above 900, distinguishing the school as one of the top 10 in the state, garnering national recognition for his Oakland school. And along the way he sets Olympian goals for his students. Eventually, he expands his model, adding an AIPCS high school and a second middle school in Oakland: both schools continuing to excel.

It is a redemptive journey and there are now AIM-Ed (AIM to Educate) models of Dr. Chavis' program being replicated in CA and elsewhere in North America. Besides the story about turning around a troubled, dysfunctional school, this book is also an intriguing story about the life of Ben Chavis, a North Carolina Indian, a story about how he came to challenge just about every politically correct, educationally popular elixir in education today. Mr. Chavis learned from his own life lessons what works: focus on teachers in the classroom--eliminate the bureaucracy and ancillary staff positions; focus on teacher-student relationships--require that a teacher be assigned to the same middle school class for all three years and emphasize core subjects; and focus on discipline--breaking down students that are discipline problems and building them up again. And Dr. Chavis blends all of these ingredients into an educational philosophy that works--works with exceptional results, at both the middle school and high school level.

And when you read this book, you will cry the next time you read about the chaotic, inner-city schools with their 50% flunk-out rates, with students graduating who cannot read, and with the huge waste of so much talent. And when you think about what these youngsters from Indian, Asian, and Hispanic poor families in Oakland accomplished, you might just wonder if the education lobby--consisting of too many left wing fantasy ideologists--is so committed to its religious orthodoxy that it would prefer the current school model over academic justice for students? Would they really prefer a model that just keeps plodding along with more failure over a school system that is successful beyond their dreams? In fact, a model that is so successful that every child in the first high school graduating class takes AP calculus and AP literature, 100% of the 2008 - 2009 seniors are accepted to four-year colleges and universities, and every middle school gets test results placing the class in the top 10 in the Academic Performance Index in the State of CA. And if they would prefer dogma over academic justice, then finally we will know that for some: the schools exist for everyone but the students.

This is my twentieth year of teaching. I've taught in the inner city, way out in the country in a school surrounded by cornfields and currently teach in a school that is a crazy mix that ranges from urban ghetto to suburban McMansion neighborhoods.

There is nothing in this book that I can disagree with so far as the methods that Chavis espouses. He introduces an extreme quantity of discipline, accountability and rigor to an inner city environment that is seriously lacking in those three traits. He preaches respect for private property, pride in your school and rewards students with cash and prizes for doing well.

He blows up the concept of the mega-high school (I teach in one and it does NOT work well) and keeps his school small so that it has a family feel - everyone knows everyone.

But, this is not a traditional public school. It is a charter school - students choose to go there and because of that Chavis is free to institute his ultra-disciplined system. He is also free to jettison students who will not quickly adapt to his program, two things that regular public schools cannot do, nor will they likely every be able to do that due to the compulsory nature of public schools - because everyone has to go, courts have often ruled that the rules cannot be too extreme (this wipes out many dress code rules, etc.). The regular public schools cannot exclude students, even those that everyone knows will disrupt everything until they have had their "due process", a restriction Chavis does not have to deal with.

As a veteran teacher with a family I know that I could not teach in a Chavis-run school. He wants them young and without families so that they can devote every waking moment to his school. He comments that he wants them right out of college and then only for 3 or 4 years. I cannot cheat my own family like that so I have to stop being teacher for a little while and be a dad and husband. (That being said, I'll be grading late into that night tonight and most nights of this long Thanksgiving weekend!) He is also a little too enamored of hiring students from big name colleges like Harvard, Yale and Berkley. I'm reminded of a certain doctor of education who came to my school because she wanted to try out some of her ivory tower theories in the classroom. She had tiny classes (6-8) and could not control them. She also failed to do a darn thing with our reading scores and went right back to the university. Diplomas don't equal any ability to teach.

So, why only 4 stars? I grew weary of the first person format - at times it sounded like Chavis was saying, "Me!Me! Me!" way too much. Also, he spends several pages towards the end of the book addressing petty gripes he had with former staff members - that stuff should have been kept in house, rather than lamenting about "the biggest insult of all is that the teacher would accuse me of cheating them out of money after everything that I had done for them." (p. 253)

Are you tired of seeing children fail in school year after year? There is hope but it comes with a price, change...This book is a roadmap to student academic success that cannot be ignored. Dr. Chavis is a leader that has thrown down the gauntlet. Let's pick it up and run with it. These children deserve it. Crazy Like A Fox is the guide to achieve that goal.

Great example of successful inner city education that excels academically. Inspiring, revolutionary approach. Applicable to all public education. Kids can learn. We don't need more money for 5 star education we need motivated, smart leadership,teachers and parents that will get out of the way and let them do their job. Teach language arts and math each for 1.5 hours a day and students will excel in all areas. No fluff, no nonsense, common sense education.

Despite his loudly and roughly expressed politically incorrect opinions, Lumbee Indian Ben Chavis has a growing following of educators and parents who consider him the wizard of inner city education. In Oakland, CA, known for its high homicide rate, rampant drug use, and low test scores, he took the failing American Indian Public Charter School (AIPCS) and turned it into the 5th-highest-ranked middle school in the state. And this with a student body of almost exclusively poor and minority kids.

Although I have very different politics from Ben Chavis (for example, I find his effusive praise of George Bush and Milton Friedman misguided), I must admit that he seems to have found the key to dealing with a serious American education problem. His strict enforcement of rules and discipline is well tempered by his sincere ambition, protection, and love for each of his students. And unlike Obama, who has brought none of his promised change to our country's war policies and lobbyist influence, Chavis does for education what he says he will do. And he reveals his methods in detail to anyone willing to pay attention. If you believe that a solid grounding in English, math, history, and science for all America's future citizens will help pull this country back from the brink of chaos, then read this book to see how it can be done.

The book is an easy read, a ramble full of stories about the school, its students and staff, Chavis' confrontational encounters with friends and foes, and his hardscrabble childhood in rural North Carolina. It is the personal story of a man who started at the very bottom of the American economy, recognized truths that many did not, and then let no obstacles, icons, or institutions stand in the way of putting those truths into action. For those who care about American education and wonder how we can begin to correct its decline, "Crazy Like a Fox" will give them an inspirational starting point.

This is a fabulous book about a fabulous man who proves that under-privileged kids can learn and excel. He took over a poor "Indian" charter school in Oakland, and made it into the 4th best scoring middle school in the state. Everyone should read this book and be aware of Ben Chavis. This man has the vision to change our union dominated school system which leaves kids behind, into a vibrant educational system that prepares these same kids for college.

"Crazy Like A Fox" is a most commanding vehicle by which Dr. Chavis continues his bold, desperately-needed, challenge to America's impotent educational practices. With the concise writing style of Carey Blakely, it is a biting condemnation of those who enrich themselves by cheating our children of their right to be effectively educated; an achievement indispensable to their individual economic success.

This book demonstrates how a most principled educator prepares students for the realities of America's free enterprise system. That educator repeatedly illustrates how his schools' children are capable of reaching the highest standards of achievement, when that achievement is actually expected of them.

Dr. Chavis and Carey Blakely are strict advocates of those educating methods that actually work. Their apolitical publication adheres to the author's "back-to-basics" stance. It provides impressive empirical data, as well as detailed accountings of his successes. "Crazy Like A Fox" lays out the fundamentals of Dr. Chavis' American Indian Model of Education in clear, understandable terms, to encourage ease of replication. It's all about empowering individuals with a sure formula for success; i.e., achievement through hard work and self-discipline.

All families with school-age children, as well as those educators who are dismayed by America's unconscionable dumbing down of its youth, absolutely must read this zesty eye-opener! ###

I am a former parent of AIPCS and a I know Ben Chavis well. My youngest son went from being forgotten in his "well-performing" Oakland Unified elementary school to excelling and spotting his own potential. Ben did not let up on this kid. Junior admits he spent the better part of his 3 years at AIPCS in detention, but he learned critical thinking, improved his writing skills and excels in mathmatics.

Today, my son is 20 years old and announced that he is pre-med. Though he would personally like to trip Ben during a jog around the lake, he would also thank him for making him the student he is today.

I glad Ben wrote this book to tell others about how our education system needs to change. Our so-called minority students are falling off the charts in these traditional unified school settings. I agree with the no-excuses, get to work, get involved with your child's education, complete your education, lessen the distractions, consquences for negative behavior, method of reaching our children.