Ghosts in the Schoolyard
by Eve L. Ewing
Format: Paperback
ISBN13: 9780226526164
Paperback|9780226526164
✨ Featured Offer
Used, Very Good
$7.64
List Price: $16.00
🚚
See all 5 offers from $6.91 FREE standard delivery by: 02 Apr 2026
Overview
"Failing schools. Underprivileged schools. Just plain bad schools."
That's how Eve L. Ewing opens Ghosts in the Schoolyard: describing Chicago Public Schools from the outside. The way politicians and pundits and parents of kids who attend other schools talk about them, with a mix of pity and contempt.
But Ewing knows Chicago Public Schools from the inside: as a student, then a teacher, and now a scholar who studies them. And that perspective has shown her that public schools are not buildings full of failures--they're an integral part of their neighborhoods, at the heart of their communities, storehouses of history and memory that bring people together.
Never was that role more apparent than in 2013 when Mayor Rahm Emanuel announced an unprecedented wave of school closings. Pitched simultaneously as a solution to a budget problem, a response to declining enrollments, and a chance to purge bad schools that were dragging down the whole system, the plan was met with a roar of protest from parents, students, and teachers. But if these schools were so bad, why did people care so much about keeping them open, to the point that some would even go on a hunger strike?
Ewing's answer begins with a story of systemic racism, inequality, bad faith, and distrust that stretches deep into Chicago history. Rooting her exploration in the historic African American neighborhood of Bronzeville, Ewing reveals that this issue is about much more than just schools. Black communities see the closing of their schools--schools that are certainly less than perfect but that are theirs--as one more in a long line of racist policies. The fight to keep them open is yet another front in the ongoing struggle of black people in America to build successful lives and achieve true self-determination.
That's how Eve L. Ewing opens Ghosts in the Schoolyard: describing Chicago Public Schools from the outside. The way politicians and pundits and parents of kids who attend other schools talk about them, with a mix of pity and contempt.
But Ewing knows Chicago Public Schools from the inside: as a student, then a teacher, and now a scholar who studies them. And that perspective has shown her that public schools are not buildings full of failures--they're an integral part of their neighborhoods, at the heart of their communities, storehouses of history and memory that bring people together.
Never was that role more apparent than in 2013 when Mayor Rahm Emanuel announced an unprecedented wave of school closings. Pitched simultaneously as a solution to a budget problem, a response to declining enrollments, and a chance to purge bad schools that were dragging down the whole system, the plan was met with a roar of protest from parents, students, and teachers. But if these schools were so bad, why did people care so much about keeping them open, to the point that some would even go on a hunger strike?
Ewing's answer begins with a story of systemic racism, inequality, bad faith, and distrust that stretches deep into Chicago history. Rooting her exploration in the historic African American neighborhood of Bronzeville, Ewing reveals that this issue is about much more than just schools. Black communities see the closing of their schools--schools that are certainly less than perfect but that are theirs--as one more in a long line of racist policies. The fight to keep them open is yet another front in the ongoing struggle of black people in America to build successful lives and achieve true self-determination.
| ISBN-13 | 9780226526164 |
|---|---|
| ISBN-10 | 022652616X |
| Weight | 0.65 Pounds |
| Dimensions | 5.50 x 0.54 x 8.50 In |
| List Price | $16.00 |
| Edition | 1st Edition |
| Format | Paperback |
|---|---|
| Language | English |
| Pages | 240 pages |
| Publisher | University of Chicago Press |
| Published On | 2020-04-10 |
View All Offers
Sort by:
Price
Condition
Seller
Seller Comments
Price
Used, Good
Seller details
Zoom Books East
Glendale Heights, IL, USA
Book is in very good condition and may include minimal underlining highlighting. The book can also i...
Free delivery by: 02 Apr 2026
✨ Used, Very Good
Seller details
Midtown Scholar Bookstore
Harrisburg, PA, USA
Very Good-Crisp, clean, unread book with some shelfwear/edgewear, may have a remainder mark-NICE PAP...
Free delivery by: 02 Apr 2026
Used, Very Good
Seller details
More Than Words
Waltham, MA, USA
A bright, square, and overall a nice copy.
Free delivery by: 02 Apr 2026
Used, Good
Seller details
Evergreen Goodwill
Seattle, WA, USA
Free delivery by: 02 Apr 2026
Used, Good
Seller details
HPB-Red
Dallas, TX, USA
Connecting readers with great books since 1972! Used textbooks may not include companion materials s...
Free delivery by: 02 Apr 2026