Back to School - by Mike Rose (Paperback)

Book Synopsis

The statistics come as a total surprise to most: 45 percent of postsecondary school students do not enroll directly out of high school. Many are part-time students, people who are returning to school after life intervened, or otherwise "nontraditional" learners--and this segment is growing. Back to School is the first book to look at this population of "second chancers," in a work that Make magazine calls "optimistic yet simultaneously realistic."

Writing in the anecdotal style of his bestselling Possible Lives, veteran educator Mike Rose paints a vivid picture of the community colleges and adult education programs that give millions of Americans a shot at reaching their aspirations. Chapters treat topics from remedial education and bridging the academic-vocational divide to the economic and social benefits of returning to school, the importance of second-chance education for democracy, and the college-for-all debate. Throughout, Rose combines what Education Digest calls "rich and moving vignettes of people in tough circumstances who find their way" with what Publishers Weekly calls "highly practical areas for improvement in higher ed, such as orientation programs, occupational schools, physical campus layouts, and pedagogical training for new teachers."

Review Quotes

Praise for Back to School:
"Back to School opened my eyes. It forced me to dig through my own beliefs about whom contemporary higher education is for and why, and how we might best re-craft it for learners who desire it deeply."
--Anna Neumann, The Journal of Higher Education

"Mike Rose shines a light on institutions that are teaching students, young and old, how to rebuild our economy and put America back to work."
--President Bill Clinton

"Thoughtful and surprising."
--The Washington Post

"Inspiring."
--Kirkus

"Those working in secondary education would be remiss to ignore these crucial lessons."
--Publishers Weekly

"Rose's idealism is the best kind: informed, tough-minded, self-aware. Those of us who inhabit lives on the cushier side of the educational boundary should honor, and act upon, his profoundly democratic spirit."
--History News Network

About the Author

A professor at the UCLA Graduate School of Education and Information Studies, Mike Rose is the author of books including "Why School?" (The New Press), "Lives on the Boundary," "The Mind at Work," and "Possible Lives." Among his awards are a Guggenheim Fellowship, the Grawemeyer Award in Education, and the Commonwealth Club of California Award for Literary Excellence in Nonfiction. He lives in Santa Monica, California.