There Are No Shortcuts

(Paperback)

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Year after year, Rafe Esquith's fifth-grade students excel. They read passionately, far above their grade level; tackle algebra; and stage Shakespeare so professionally that they often wow the great Shakespearen actor himself, Sir Ian McKellen. Yet Esquith teaches at an L.A. innercity school known as the Jungle, where few of his students speak English at home, and many are from poor or troubled families. What's his winning recipe A diet of intensive learning mixed with a lot of kindness and fun. His kids attend class from 6-30 A.M. until well after 4-00 P.M., right through most of their vacations. They take field trips to Europe and Yosemite. They play rock and roll. Mediocrity has no place in their classroom. And the results follow them for life, as they go on to colleges such as Harvard, Princeton, and Stanford. Possessed by a fierce idealism, Esquith works even harder than his students. As an outspoken maverick of public education (his heroes include Huck Finn and Atticus Finch), he admits to significant mistakes and heated fights with administrators and colleagues. We all-teachers, parents, citizens-have much to learn from his candor and uncompromising vision.

Reviews

Esquith is a modern-day Thoreau, preaching the value of good work, honest self-reflection and the courage to go ones own way. Newsday

Half-memoir, half Chicken Soup for the Teachers Soul. . . . Esquiths methods are not complicated, terendy, or political. . . . The perfect spokesman for the pick yourself up by the bootstraps crowd. The New York Sun

Freethinking, demanding, encouraging. Kirkus Reviews

Passionate and inspiring...With anecdotes that are alternately amusing and disheartening, Esquith details the joys and frustrations of teaching and offers valuable insights to parents and teachers alike. Booklist

Author Bio

Rafe Esquithis an award-winningAmericanteacher who taught atHobart Boulevard Elementary School, inLos Angeles,California, from 1984 until 2015. He is the product of the Los Angeles public schools and a graduate of UCLA. His many honors and awards include the 1992 Disney National Outstanding Teacher of the Year Award, a Sigma Beta Delta Fellowship from Johns Hopkins University, Parents Magazine's As You Grow Award, Oprah Winfrey's Use Your Life Award, and an MBE from Queen Elizabeth. He lives in Los Angeles with his wife, Barbara Tong.