Radical Possibilities: Public Policy, Urban Education, and A New Social Movement

by Jean Anyon

Jean Anyon's groundbreaking new book reveals the influence of federal and metropolitan policies and practices on the poverty that plagues schools and communities in American cities and segregated, low-income suburbs. Public policies...such as those regulating the minimum wage, job availability, tax rates, federal transit, and affordable housing...all create conditions in urban areas that no education policy as currently conceived can transcend. In this first book since her best-selling Ghetto Schooling , Jean Anyon argues that we must replace these federal and metro-area policies with more equitable ones so that urban school reform can have positive life consequences for students.
Anyon provides a much-needed new paradigm for understanding and combating educational injustice. Radical Possibilities reminds us that historically, equitable public policies have been typically created as a result of the political pressure brought to bear by social movements. Basing her analysis on new research in civil rights history and social movement theory, Anyon skillfully explains how the current moment offers serious possibilities for the creation of such a force. The book powerfully describes five social movements already under way in U.S. cities, and offers readers interested in building this new social movement a set of practical and theoretical insights into securing economic and educational justice for the many millions of America's poor families and students.

Genres: Education, Nonfiction, School, Social Justice, Academic, Justice

256 pages, Paperback

First published March 29, 2005

Reviews

[Randie D. Camp, M.S. · Rating 3 out of 5]

(Read Chapter 1 for a grad class)

Anyon emphasizes the fact that most economically poor people have full time, year-round jobs to challenge the hegemonic ideals of our society that tell us poor people are poor because they choose to be. Our society would like us to believe that poor people are satisfied “living off” welfare and like my peers have mentioned, too “lazy” to find and/or keep a job. Our society does not want us to know the truth; we are supposed to turn the other cheek to discriminatory and racist institutions and rituals that keep poor people poor.

I also believe Anyon emphasized that most economically poor people have full time, year-round jobs to allow readers to connect with the poor. Many times in academics and in other fields we think of the poor or other groups of people as different than ourselves, they become a statistic or a topic; thus making it easier to believe they are inferior (even if just subconsciously). Anyon wants us to realize that poor people are not different from us, they wake up every day and go to work just like us, and they could be us. This method makes poor people real and this helps us to change our thinking and think critically and seriously about how we can go about making societal changes to get these people out of poverty.

What I found most interesting/troubling in Anyon’s first chapter was the fact that businesses are employing college-educated individuals for jobs that only require high school education. This practice is like adding fuel to the fire, it really hurts both the college-educated, and high school educated individuals. College-educated individuals are locking themselves into a lower wage and becoming part of the working poor while individuals with high school education are stripped of job opportunities and eliminated from the job market.

[Laura · Rating 5 out of 5]

Along with Schooling In Capitalist America: Educational Reform and the Contradictions of Economic Life and Class Dismissed: Why We Cannot Teach or Learn Our Way Out of Inequality, this book makes the argument that to solve the problems of our schools, we must first solve the problems of poverty. This can be a depressing argument for those of us involved in education, but Anyon makes the argument that a fight for educational justice can actually serve as the fulcrum for a larger movement for social justice. Must read for those in education.

[Shelby · Rating 5 out of 5]

Anyon argues that in order to fully address the issues of urban education, we must also reevaluate our public policies that perpetuate inequality amongst our citizens. Her argument is compelling and at times, one can feel overwhelmed about how we can overcome all the issues we need to address. However, Anyon believes change is possible due to what we have accomplished and changed historically.

“...the utopian thinking of yesteryear becomes the common sense of today.”

[Pete · Rating 3 out of 5]

A strong and inspiring analysis of the economic and housing policies that directly impact education. But race, unfortunately, takes a back seat in this analysis, and I found myself wishing for a more robust way of understanding that we cannot focus on economic justice solely. Economic and housing policies have always been the way they are because of racism / white hegemony, and we have to understand these things as being together.

[Stephanie · Rating 5 out of 5]

This + Other People's Children = all you need to know about the fallacy of teacher-blaming. Once more for those in the back- We don't have an education problem in the U.S. We have a poverty problem.

[Ryan O'Malley · Rating 4 out of 5]

An academic writing on the importance of addressing the economic issues surrounding poverty in order to help students succeed in school.

[Elaine · Rating 4 out of 5]

As stated in the title, Anyon's book is radical in that she suggests overhauling the entire urban system, not just the schools. It seems like common sense, yet it has not been implemented yet, so maybe it doesn't seem that obvious. Anyon's arguments are well reasoned and interesting.

[Jonna Higgins-Freese · Rating 3 out of 5]

Probably well written but nothing new here for me -- an explication of the ways that federal policies maintain urban inequality, transit and housing policy affect poverty, etc. Final chapter on how to organize around education.

[James Schisler · Rating 5 out of 5]

Anyon makes a strong contribution here, with cogent analysis and some insightful points about the role education plays in our larger systems. It's disheartening that this book was radical when it came out 20 years ago, and remains radical now.

[Josefina Duran]

Im reading this for my Urban Educational Policy course.