Waiting for a Miracle: Schools Are Not the Problem [Hardcover]

James P. Comer (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: October 1, 1997

A fresh analysis of America's deteriorating public school system suggests that it is actually a reflection of America's social failure to make a commitment to families, community, and child development and argues that funding for schools needs to be restored. Tour.

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

There are no quick fixes in education--nobody knows that better than child psychiatrist and school reformer James P. Comer. The director of the Yale University Child Study Center has seen his School Development Program achieve varying rates of success and failure at more than 650 schools. In his sixth book, Waiting for a Miracle, Comer ties education issues into a larger social cause: today's youth, particularly urban, disenfranchised, African American children. Only through a national focus on supporting black youth, linking them to community organizations and providing jobs, Comer argues, can society hope to erase the "designated loser label" that plagues future generations. It's an idea that could take 20 to 30 years to reap positive results, he warns. Comer isn't trying to reinvent the wheel; much of what he preaches is already in effect, to a lesser degree, in some cities (the book offers nine such programs as prototypes).

An engaging writer who uses wry humor and heartwarming anecdotes, Comer attacks a number of myths about black culture, drawing from his own life growing up black and poor in East Chicago, Indiana. He credits much of his success to his two hard-working, humble parents, and thoughtfully dissects his own experiences while avoiding playing the race card. He talks frankly about race relations in a way that reaches out to other cultures. In doing so he offers a voice of hope in this quick, enjoyable read--a must for community activists, politicians, educators, and anyone who cares about the future of our schools and the children in them. --Jodi Mailander Farrell

From Library Journal

Comer (Raising Black Children, LJ 9/15/92) is one of the best-known experts and consultants on reforming troubled schools and serves as a prime resource for educators interested in the essential issue of how to educate children who have been left challenged by the conditions of their daily life. Comer is indeed a visionary, but here his brilliant vision emerges only after the reader has been taken through a confused jumble of personal anecdote, racial politics, and reports of school reform efforts. The author's thesis?that schools can do nothing to help African American children until our culture rejects stereotyping and understands how injustice has created caste groups?is countered by a list of impressive programs that have worked in certain schools to boost test scores, success rates, and self-confidence. While the conundrum renders the book theoretically uninteresting, it may serve as a useful source for education professors looking for a list of laudable (and proven) school reform programs focusing on parents and children.?Jessica George, Illinois State Univ. Lib., Normal
Copyright 1997 Reed Business Information, Inc.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 261 pages
• Publisher: Dutton Adult; First Edition edition (October 1, 1997)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0525941444
• ISBN-13: 978-0525941446
• Product Dimensions: 8.5 x 5.3 x 1.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2.4 ounces
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #3,334,790 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)