Hold Fast to Dreams: A College Guidance Counselor, His Students, and the Vision of a Life Beyond Poverty

(Hardback)

Available Formats

Publishing Details

Classifications

Physical Properties

Description

When Joshua Steckel left his job as a private school college counselor on New York City's Upper East Side to work at a public high school in Brooklyn, he discovered that for low-income students, the competitive game of college admissions has entirely different rules and much higher stakes. Mike writes his personal essays from a homeless shelter and struggles with both his longing to get away and his guilt at the thought of leaving his family in desperate circumstances.

Reviews

Without sentimentality, [Steckel and Zasloff] chronicle the lives of several students and the challenges that they face. Motoko Rich from the What We're Reading column in the New York Times

"In the event the first lady is not in the room to offer guidance to the staffers charged with putting the White House [higher education] directives into action, somebody should slip them a copy of Beth Zasloff and Joshua Steckel's new book, Hold Fast to Dreams: A College Guidance Counselor, His Students, and the Vision of a Life Beyond Poverty."
The Chronicle of Higher Education

"This is more than a heart-wrenching look at the particular struggles of 10 inner-city students. It is a profound examination of the obstacles faced by low-income students to get into and through college and the kinds of reforms needed to make higher education and the upward mobility it promises more accessible."
Booklist

"A powerful story of courage and hope that should inspire others to follow trailblazers like Steckel and his students."
Kirkus Reviews

"As the population of Americas future college students becomes more diverse, stories such as Hold Fast to Dreams become ever so more important."
Diverse: Issues in Higher Education

"I love it. It was better than a good novel. I couldnt get Santiagos dilemma out of my mind. . . . Its magnificentthank you!"
Debbie Meier, author of Will Standards Save Public Education and founder of the Small Schools movement

"Hold Fast to Dreams is about the difficulty poorer students have in grasping the American dream. It is essential reading for those who care about the lives of all children."
Bob Herbert, Distinguished Senior Fellow at Demos and former op-ed columnist for the New York Times

"Hold Fast to Dreams is not another manifesto extolling the benefits of college. In this important new book, Joshua Steckel and Beth Zasloff provide a heartfelt analysis of the factors that make it difficult for so many urban youth to access the opportunities that college provides. Drawing on years of direct experience counseling young people for whom college is little more than a faint dream, the authors show us what it takes to bridge the opportunity divide and use education to transform lives and expand opportunity. . . . This book is a must-read."
Pedro Noguera, Peter L. Agnew Professor of Education at New York University and author of City Schools and the American Dream

"The important new book Joshua Steckel has written with Beth Zasloff, Hold Fast to Dreams, follows ten students at his former school and illuminates the dogged commitment and insider knowledge required to ensure that all students, regardless of background or circumstance, have access to the educational and economic opportunities that are often closed to many of our nations young people."
Richard Stopol, president of NYC Outward Bound Schools

"You won't soon forget these powerfully rendered stories of young people battling big odds to go to college, for Hold Fast to Dreams is, all in one, a great read, an educational manifesto, and a testament to the vibrant ability of kids who just need a chance to realize their dreams. This book should be on every policy maker's desk."
Mike Rose, author of Why School and Lives on the Boundary

Author Bio

Beth Zasloff has taught writing at New York University, at Johns Hopkins University, and as a teaching artist in the New York City public schools. She
is the co-author, with Edgar M. Bronfman, of Hope, Not Fear: A Path to Jewish Renaissance and currently directs the Midtown Workmens Circle School, a
progressive Jewish community. She has a BA in English from Yale University and an MA from the Johns Hopkins University Writing Seminars. Joshua
Steckel is College Counselor at the Brooklyn School for Collaborative Studies, a member of the New York City Outward Bound Schools network. He has been working as a teacher and a counselor in New York City public and private schools since 2000. He has an MSEd in school counseling from Hunter College, a BA in English from Duke University, and an MA in English from Johns Hopkins University. Beth Zasloff and Joshua Steckel are married and live with their three children in Brooklyn.