As bad as they say? : three decades of teaching in the Bronx

187 Pages·2011·1.156 MB·English

by  Mayer, Janet Grossbach, Mayer, Janet Grossbach

AS BAD AS THEY SAY?
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AS BAD AS THEY SAY?
Three Decades of Teaching in the Bronx
JANET GROSSBACH MAYER
Empire State Editions
An imprint of Fordham University Press
NewYork 2011
Copyright(cid:2)2011FordhamUniversityPress
Allrightsreserved.Nopartofthispublicationmaybereproduced,storedina
retrievalsystem,ortransmittedinanyformorbyanymeans—electronic,
mechanical,photocopy,recording,oranyother—exceptforbriefquotationsin
printedreviews,withoutthepriorpermissionofthepublisher.
FordhamUniversityPresshasnoresponsibilityforthepersistenceoraccuracyof
URLsforexternalorthird-partyInternetwebsitesreferredtointhispublication
anddoesnotguaranteethatanycontentonsuchwebsitesis,orwillremain,
accurateorappropriate.
FordhamUniversityPressalsopublishesitsbooksinavarietyofelectronic
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books.
LibraryofCongressCataloging-in-PublicationData
Mayer,JanetGrossbach.
Asbadastheysay?:threedecadesofteachingintheBronx/JanetGrossbach
Mayer.
p. cm.
Includesbibliographicalreferencesandindex.
ISBN978-0-8232-3416-5(cloth:alk.paper)
ISBN978-0-8232-3417-2(pbk.:alk.paper)
ISBN978-0-8232-3418-9(ebook:alk.paper)
1. Mayer,JanetGrossbach. 2.Highschoolteachers—United
States—Biography. 3.Englishteachers—UnitedStates—Biography.
4.Teaching—NewYork(State)—NewYork. 5.Bronx(NewYork,N.Y.)
I.Title.
LA2317.M367 2011
373.110092—dc22
[B]
2010052426
PrintedintheUnitedStatesofAmerica
13 12 11 5 4 3 2 1
Firstedition
To the memory of my beloved son
Jeffrey Charles Mayer
Who passed away while I was writing this book
(October 10, 1964–September 22, 2007)
He fought the good fight.
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Contents
ForewordbyMarkNaison ix
Nobodycanmakeitoutherealone xv
TotheReader xvii
PartI: BronxRoots
1 Introduction 3
2 Nobody 9
3 ItWastheWorstofTimes 36
PartII: DefyingExpectations
4 Omara—TheOrphan 51
5 RemarkableRamika 57
6 Marion—ARareGem 62
7 ATypicalAmericanTeenager—Dominican
Republic–Style 69
8 TenaciousTamika 74
9 MultipleIntelligences:ADigression 78
vii
viii Contents
10 Dolores—TheDancer 83
11 Marisa—withCharisma 91
12 Pedro—ThePianoPlayer 97
13 BridgingtheGap 102
PartIII: LosingOurWay
14 Deception,Dismantling,andDemiseofPublicEducation 107
Appendixes
A LetterfromM.Rasool 145
B CourseofStudyforMulticulturalLiterature 149
C InterestInventory 154
Notes 155
Index 161
Foreword
A
tatimeofcrisisandupheavalintheNewYorkCityschoolsystem,
when tests, assessments, and school closings have left students and
teachers feeling battered and demoralized and when leadership of the
systemhasbeenhandedfromaprosecutortoamagazineexecutive,per-
haps people concerned with education should begin listening to voices
like Janet Mayer’s. Mayer,the author of As Bad asThey Say? Three Dec-
ades of Teaching in the Bronx, wrote her book not only to highlight the
heroism of Bronx high school students and teachers in the face of pov-
erty, violence, and shockingly decayed and understaffed schools but also
todenouncetheeducationalreformsthathavecomeoutofWashington
inthepasttenyears,which,Mayerfeels,havemademattersmuch,much
worse. Among the many critics of the two great national education ini-
tiatives, No Child Left Behind and Race to the Top, Mayer stands out
forembeddinghercritiqueinadetailedportraitofteachingandlearning
in one of the nation’s poorest urban school districts. No one has ever
written more eloquently than Janet Mayer about what it takes to spend
a large portion of your career teaching children in poverty. Those who
read As Bad as They Say? will be inspired by her stories of fortitude and
creativity on the part of students and teachers, but they will also come
away enraged thatvoiceslike hershave beenmarginalizedin thedebate
over how to improve America’s schools. Veteran teachers like Janet
MayeraretheforgottenmoralcompassinAmerica’s educationalreform
movement.Weignorewhatshesaysatourperil.
ix