The Street Stops Here: A Year at a Catholic High School in Harlem (George Gund Foundation Imprint in African American Studies) [Hardcover]

Patrick McCloskey (Author), Samuel G. Freedman (Foreword)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 0520255178 | ISBN-13: 978-0520255173 | Publication Date: January 3, 2009 | Edition: 1

The Street Stops Here offers a deeply personal and compelling account of a Catholic high school in central Harlem, where mostly disadvantaged (and often non-Catholic) African American males graduate on time and get into college. Interweaving vivid portraits of day-to-day school life with clear and evenhanded analysis, Patrick J. McCloskey takes us through an eventful year at Rice High School, as staff, students, and families make heroic efforts to prevail against society's expectations. McCloskey's riveting narrative brings into sharp relief an urgent public policy question: whether (and how) to save these schools that provide the only viable option for thousands of poor and working-class students--and thus fulfill a crucial public mandate. Just as significantly, The Street Stops Here offers invaluable lessons for low-performing urban public schools.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Keeping the challenges of urban education in mind, McCloskey, who writes for the New York Times, monitors a year of studies at a Catholic high school in Harlem in his debut book, revealing the soaring cost of academically training young poor and non-Catholic black males for graduation and college. The subject of the yearlong investigation is Rice High School, with principal Orlando Gober, who keeps the street culture at bay while pursuing educational excellence and a high moral foundation. With the highest black student population in the regional diocese, Gober makes no excuses for how schools have failed: parents and teachers made excuses, which crippled their willpower.... People have to be held responsible for what they do. It is illuminating to see the struggles and triumphs of a school day where students feud, teachers jockey for power, and administrative control must be maintained at all costs. Powerful, eloquent, candid, McCloskey's account should be required reading for those who seek to remedy the academic woes of our troubled urban schools. (Jan.)
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Review

Powerful, eloquent, candid . . . should be required reading for those who seek to remedy the academic woes of our troubled urban schools.--Publishers Weekly

Should be required reading for anyone who is interested in the welfare of our kids.--Wall Street Journal

" A primer for urban school districts. . . (A) tale of educational triumph that the book rises to page after page."--San Francisco Chronicle

"If President Obama . . . . wants to know "what works for kids," particularly students on the social margins, he should pick up The Street Stops Here."--The Weekly Standard

"Hollywood should grab this plot and ensure Denzel Washington gets the lead role."--Ottawa Citizen

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 456 pages
• Publisher: University of California Press; 1 edition (January 3, 2009)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0520255178
• ISBN-13: 978-0520255173
• Product Dimensions: 8.8 x 6.1 x 1.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.8 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (10 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,089,989 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Present Day Civil Rights, January 6, 2009

By 

S. Jameson - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Street Stops Here: A Year at a Catholic High School in Harlem (George Gund Foundation Imprint in African American Studies) (Hardcover)

This book offers a suspenseful investigation into the dynamics at work behind various inner-city social and educational problems. The non-fiction narrative takes place over one school year at a Catholic high school in Harlem, run by a talented yet troubling principal who dedicates the school to awakening a sense of personal accountability in the minds of his often-lackluster students. The book dispells many myths often accepted as sufficient explanation for why Catholic schools have better outcomes with their students than public schools, such as that they get to work with a more promising body of students. Overall, the story of the complicated principal and his troubled students is itself compelling enough to read through the book quickly, but reading through the book also thoroughly informs and changes the perspective of its reader.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Great Book, January 14, 2009

By 

Gerald M. Moody Jr. - See all my reviews
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This review is from: The Street Stops Here: A Year at a Catholic High School in Harlem (George Gund Foundation Imprint in African American Studies) (Hardcover)

This book makes excellent use of the narrative form to investigate and chronicle the successes and failures of inner-city education in New York City. While the themes concern neutral, generally applicable principles, the writer uses a gripping story to bring these principles to life. I strongly recommend this book to anyone with an interest in either education or New York City. We must reform our school systems in order to compete in the global marketplace and this book can add much to the debates to come!

5 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Education for Educators, January 5, 2009

By 

Jared Killeen "dog lover" (usa) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: The Street Stops Here: A Year at a Catholic High School in Harlem (George Gund Foundation Imprint in African American Studies) (Hardcover)

'The Street Stops Here' is McCloskey's fascinating journalistic account of his year at Rice Catholic High School in Harlem. As a piece of academic writing, it is generous and accessible. The casual reader, looking for a good romp, will find an engrossing narrative about the teachers and students of Rice, a story that stands on its own as novelistic entertainment; the serious-minded reader, looking for a serious-minded book, will find an acute analysis of urban education and a sobering digest of the challenges faced by New York's private high schools. It is McCloskey's fine, intelligent writing that renders the book enjoyable as both exposé and essay. Calling it 'required reading' makes it sound like a chore; but just as 'The Street' should be read by anyone interested in American education, it should also be taught in college classrooms: if not simply for McCloskey's impressive handling of the subject matter, then for the book's brave insistence that we re-examine some of the flimsy axioms of lower education that have hitherto been taken for granted.