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Schooled
In this captivating coming-of-age story, a once underpaid teacher is swept into the glittering world of Manhattan private schools--where shopping sprees are endless and morality is optional. "You're making how much an hour"
"Two hundred dollars."
"Do you ride in on a pony"
All she wants to do is teach. For Anna Taggert, an earnest Ivy League graduate, pursuing her passion as a teacher means engaging young hearts and minds. She longs to be in a place where she can be her best self, and give that best to her students. Turns out it isn't that easy.
Landing a job at an elite private school in Manhattan, Anna finds her dreams of chalk boards and lesson plans replaced with board families, learning specialists, and benefit-planning mothers. Not to mention the grim realities of her small paycheck.
And then comes the realization that the papers she grades are not the work of her students, but of their high-priced, college-educated tutors. After uncovering this underground economy where a teacher can make the same hourly rate as a Manhattan attorney, Anna herself is seduced by lucrative offers -- one after another. Teacher by day, tutor by night, she starts to sample the good life her students binges at Barneys, dinners at the Waverly Inn, and a new address on Madison Avenue. Until, that is, the truth sets in.
"Two hundred dollars."
"Do you ride in on a pony"
All she wants to do is teach. For Anna Taggert, an earnest Ivy League graduate, pursuing her passion as a teacher means engaging young hearts and minds. She longs to be in a place where she can be her best self, and give that best to her students. Turns out it isn't that easy.
Landing a job at an elite private school in Manhattan, Anna finds her dreams of chalk boards and lesson plans replaced with board families, learning specialists, and benefit-planning mothers. Not to mention the grim realities of her small paycheck.
And then comes the realization that the papers she grades are not the work of her students, but of their high-priced, college-educated tutors. After uncovering this underground economy where a teacher can make the same hourly rate as a Manhattan attorney, Anna herself is seduced by lucrative offers -- one after another. Teacher by day, tutor by night, she starts to sample the good life her students binges at Barneys, dinners at the Waverly Inn, and a new address on Madison Avenue. Until, that is, the truth sets in.
368 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 2008
30 people are currently reading
1118 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 397 reviews
August 20, 2008
While the actual 'story' of this book is packed with cliche, repetition, and redundance, Lakhani has chosen some very serious, honest, and accurate subject matter. A few years back I read a similar novel (I think it was called 'The Ivy Chronicles') which was also a fictionalized version of a very real and disturbing Manhattan phenomenon -- parents who pay obscene amounts amounts of money so that their children can get into the *right* kindergarten. As a teacher in Manhattan myself, I am aware that this continues to be a serious issue. Lakhani reaches her conclusion very quickly -- don't be *friends* with your students, treat them like adults, have empathy for their hectic schedules, be aware that the world is a difficult place for children and is getting worse, and help them and teach them as best you can -- if it means only reaching a handful out of a class of 40, you have still made some change. I'm glad that Lakhani wrote about private school 'tutoring', and she was quite accurate in the goings on of Upper East Side families (she has first hand experience in the matter after teaching at Dalton). I'm interested in seeing how the Manhattan private schools will react to her book. If any change or any new rules are implemented in the corrupt system, then Ms. Lakhani has my full support!
December 17, 2008
I come from a suburban public school education from a community that sprouted from horse farms and apple orchards into a seven to seven thousand person residential development mostly for transplanted New Yorkers. Private school was never a thought to my parents since I attended fairly new public schools.
Among my classmates who stayed in town from kindergarten through the 12th grade were some of the smartest people I know to this day. Our valedictorian went to Harvard, and we sent graduates to MIT, Penn and Cornell, as well a whopping four to Duke. Members of my class, myself included, made up more than one percent of the freshman class at Rutgers. A class such as mine would have been the envy of any school public or private. Yet today, I read so much praising private school education over the public schools.
After reading Anisha Lakhani’s novel Schooled, I wondered why.
Lakhani’s novel is based on her early experiences as a private school teacher and tutor, then later as the head of an English department. Her story takes place in a New York K-12 private school that is divided over the ideas of offering a “progressive” education and satisfying the whims of its most important financial contributors. The result is a mess: the school’s marketing focuses on boasts about college placements and teachers are chastised for assigning too much homework, and taking approaches to making that homework too creative—because parents complain when homework isn’t homework as they knew it.
Schooled takes place during the first year in the working life of Anna Taggart, a seventh grade English teacher. The best parts of the story are Taggart’s efforts to manage a classroom of spoiled kids, without drawing the attention of their parents and the principal. The more bothersome are her dallies into the world of high-priced tutor for hire, guided under the influence of Randi Abrahams, a teacher who has successfully used tutoring to improve her standard of living (and shopping) while becoming “cool” with her regular seventh grade class.
Yet Schooled also showed that the wealthy were willing to pay anything for tutoring to help their children get through private school, even to, with their consent, write papers for them. I know this is fiction, but it was frightening to see parents part with considerable sums of money for that kind of help—because they could.
More frightening, these parents went over their teacher’s heads to complain about the assignments their children received to say they were inappropriate, overly demanding, or the best comment: in conflict with their son or daughter’s Bar or Bat Mitzvah reception schedule. Schooled likens the Bar or Bat Mitzvah reception to the debutante’s coming out party. I am Jewish, and my mother taught Hebrew school for over a decade, but I never thought about the ascension in my religious education as a social happening for the “cool kids” in school. But in this novel, a non-Jewish Korean student sends announcements for a faux Bat Mitzvah party.
Although the conversations about shopping for designer fashions and expensive lunches away from school by Anna and Randi bordered on “chick-lit,” I enjoyed reading Schooled. The story made me curious about an educational world that was previously unfamiliar to me, and it left me glad that I have never been a part of it.
Among my classmates who stayed in town from kindergarten through the 12th grade were some of the smartest people I know to this day. Our valedictorian went to Harvard, and we sent graduates to MIT, Penn and Cornell, as well a whopping four to Duke. Members of my class, myself included, made up more than one percent of the freshman class at Rutgers. A class such as mine would have been the envy of any school public or private. Yet today, I read so much praising private school education over the public schools.
After reading Anisha Lakhani’s novel Schooled, I wondered why.
Lakhani’s novel is based on her early experiences as a private school teacher and tutor, then later as the head of an English department. Her story takes place in a New York K-12 private school that is divided over the ideas of offering a “progressive” education and satisfying the whims of its most important financial contributors. The result is a mess: the school’s marketing focuses on boasts about college placements and teachers are chastised for assigning too much homework, and taking approaches to making that homework too creative—because parents complain when homework isn’t homework as they knew it.
Schooled takes place during the first year in the working life of Anna Taggart, a seventh grade English teacher. The best parts of the story are Taggart’s efforts to manage a classroom of spoiled kids, without drawing the attention of their parents and the principal. The more bothersome are her dallies into the world of high-priced tutor for hire, guided under the influence of Randi Abrahams, a teacher who has successfully used tutoring to improve her standard of living (and shopping) while becoming “cool” with her regular seventh grade class.
Yet Schooled also showed that the wealthy were willing to pay anything for tutoring to help their children get through private school, even to, with their consent, write papers for them. I know this is fiction, but it was frightening to see parents part with considerable sums of money for that kind of help—because they could.
More frightening, these parents went over their teacher’s heads to complain about the assignments their children received to say they were inappropriate, overly demanding, or the best comment: in conflict with their son or daughter’s Bar or Bat Mitzvah reception schedule. Schooled likens the Bar or Bat Mitzvah reception to the debutante’s coming out party. I am Jewish, and my mother taught Hebrew school for over a decade, but I never thought about the ascension in my religious education as a social happening for the “cool kids” in school. But in this novel, a non-Jewish Korean student sends announcements for a faux Bat Mitzvah party.
Although the conversations about shopping for designer fashions and expensive lunches away from school by Anna and Randi bordered on “chick-lit,” I enjoyed reading Schooled. The story made me curious about an educational world that was previously unfamiliar to me, and it left me glad that I have never been a part of it.
September 7, 2008
I read this after hearing lots and reading quite a few reviews about the book, so I am not entirely sure about my reactions - how much was my enjoyment and annoyance colored by these preset expectations? And how much of my secret pleasure and overt disgust came from my having known the author and has been working in the school that this fiction is supposed to be based on? So read on, those of you who are curious to know my opinions about the book, with caution and many grains of salt!
First, I was surprised how the book does not really feature many recognizable students and faculty from the school, nor does it develop the school as a setting fully. In fact, most teachers do not even enter the story. In fact, most teachers do not even enter the story. It's as if this fictional K-12 school has but 50 students and they all go to the 7th grade and there are only half a dozen teachers who come into contact with the protagonist and the children. In short, the setting of the school is not quite fleshed out or rich, and the supporting characters are not 3-dimensional, either. A few incidents or coincidences are probably not identifiable by those who are not intimately connected to the school, either. So much, so much of the story is extremely exaggerated: the characters complete caricatures, and the whole world distorted with the kind of hyper-reality one can only find in Gossip Girls and Sex in the City. (Of course also in the highly manipulated Real Housewives "reality" shows...)
This brings me to say to those who seem to think that this is a truthful portrayal of the Manhattan Private Schools/Ivy League Feeders world, "You are absolutely wrong." This is fluffy fiction and no more than that.
I don't think there is even a need to defend my school since there is so little resemblance in SCHOOLED to the actual school -- including the physical descriptions and the ways teaching and learning are accomplished throughout the years. Suffice to say that I have encountered scores of most brilliant human beings: readers, writers, thinkers, activists, artists, mathematicians, scientists, all kinds of people -- both from its faculty pool and the student body, to feel privileged and proud to be part of this incredible institution.
The biggest weakness of the book, to my eyes, is how bland the writing is... with few exceptions where the lines are actually funny or effective, such as, "The world could be coming to an end and my mother would still find a way to offer a cookie with the gas mask." and "It was an all-purpose word, something of a Swiss Army knife capable of replacing all sorts of words, such as do, write, create, and especially finish." The rest of the book is filled with lines with little crafting or "polishing". Just a few examples here:
page 124: Anna wonders "if Shakespeare would be ... delighted that his work was the cause of such delight to a group of... seventh-graders."
page 126: "The last comment was like a wound in my heart."
page 131: "And I was an air traffic controller trying to control fifteen little planes all trying to land at one time."
To compound the problem of such thin prose is the poor editing. Missing punctuation marks, continuity errors, and misused words, such as "My ears were ringing. And when did faux mitzvah enter everyone's vocabulary accept mine?" ACCEPT? And this is supposedly written/narrated by an Ivy-Leaguer who studied English in college and teaches English to 7th graders.
The one saving grace is that the readers do not admire Anna (oh, maybe a little bit toward the end of the story when she suddenly has a courageous enlightment moment), and that adds some flavor to the tale of a small fry lost in the world of greasy glitz.
First, I was surprised how the book does not really feature many recognizable students and faculty from the school, nor does it develop the school as a setting fully. In fact, most teachers do not even enter the story. In fact, most teachers do not even enter the story. It's as if this fictional K-12 school has but 50 students and they all go to the 7th grade and there are only half a dozen teachers who come into contact with the protagonist and the children. In short, the setting of the school is not quite fleshed out or rich, and the supporting characters are not 3-dimensional, either. A few incidents or coincidences are probably not identifiable by those who are not intimately connected to the school, either. So much, so much of the story is extremely exaggerated: the characters complete caricatures, and the whole world distorted with the kind of hyper-reality one can only find in Gossip Girls and Sex in the City. (Of course also in the highly manipulated Real Housewives "reality" shows...)
This brings me to say to those who seem to think that this is a truthful portrayal of the Manhattan Private Schools/Ivy League Feeders world, "You are absolutely wrong." This is fluffy fiction and no more than that.
I don't think there is even a need to defend my school since there is so little resemblance in SCHOOLED to the actual school -- including the physical descriptions and the ways teaching and learning are accomplished throughout the years. Suffice to say that I have encountered scores of most brilliant human beings: readers, writers, thinkers, activists, artists, mathematicians, scientists, all kinds of people -- both from its faculty pool and the student body, to feel privileged and proud to be part of this incredible institution.
The biggest weakness of the book, to my eyes, is how bland the writing is... with few exceptions where the lines are actually funny or effective, such as, "The world could be coming to an end and my mother would still find a way to offer a cookie with the gas mask." and "It was an all-purpose word, something of a Swiss Army knife capable of replacing all sorts of words, such as do, write, create, and especially finish." The rest of the book is filled with lines with little crafting or "polishing". Just a few examples here:
page 124: Anna wonders "if Shakespeare would be ... delighted that his work was the cause of such delight to a group of... seventh-graders."
page 126: "The last comment was like a wound in my heart."
page 131: "And I was an air traffic controller trying to control fifteen little planes all trying to land at one time."
To compound the problem of such thin prose is the poor editing. Missing punctuation marks, continuity errors, and misused words, such as "My ears were ringing. And when did faux mitzvah enter everyone's vocabulary accept mine?" ACCEPT? And this is supposedly written/narrated by an Ivy-Leaguer who studied English in college and teaches English to 7th graders.
The one saving grace is that the readers do not admire Anna (oh, maybe a little bit toward the end of the story when she suddenly has a courageous enlightment moment), and that adds some flavor to the tale of a small fry lost in the world of greasy glitz.
October 6, 2008
I think it was partly the fear of running into this world that made me change my mind about becoming a teacher...
This is a solid book with a solid story, but absolutely no depth. There's nothing really specific I can pick out about what I disliked (except every interaction Anna had with her parents. I was supposed to believe she was a graduate from Columbia, but when she was with her parents it was like she was thrown back into middle school-complete with a melodramatic running away from home scene!). The book kept me turning the pages, even though the ending was pretty obvious from the beginning. But Anna fell into this tutoring world way too quickly, and sprang back out, unharmed, just as fast. Everyone Anna encountered felt like a caricature, and paradoxically that feeling increased the more time was spent with them! Characters that we met once or twice at least had hints at depth, but characters like Randi, or Anna's parents, who feature prominently at times, are thin and flat; merely props for Anna to lean on for awhile until she makes it to the end of the book.
This is a solid book with a solid story, but absolutely no depth. There's nothing really specific I can pick out about what I disliked (except every interaction Anna had with her parents. I was supposed to believe she was a graduate from Columbia, but when she was with her parents it was like she was thrown back into middle school-complete with a melodramatic running away from home scene!). The book kept me turning the pages, even though the ending was pretty obvious from the beginning. But Anna fell into this tutoring world way too quickly, and sprang back out, unharmed, just as fast. Everyone Anna encountered felt like a caricature, and paradoxically that feeling increased the more time was spent with them! Characters that we met once or twice at least had hints at depth, but characters like Randi, or Anna's parents, who feature prominently at times, are thin and flat; merely props for Anna to lean on for awhile until she makes it to the end of the book.
July 27, 2008
I couldn't put this book down! I was totally sucked in and could not believe what the characters went through just to get a buck. It is true that there is a price for everything, even if you don't believe you would ever stoop that low!
I recommend this book to anyone, especially teachers, who I think would really relate to this book.
I recommend this book to anyone, especially teachers, who I think would really relate to this book.
October 28, 2009
Truly a lousy book. Where's a negative rating when you need one? The young teacher morphed from idealistic to mercenary to "teacher extraordinaire" in one short first year of teaching. I only kept reading because it was set in Manhattan society for which I have a morbid curiosity. NOBODY was likeable. Shallow shallow shallow. I'm hoping all tutors aren't writing kids' papers for astronomical amounts of cash.. I ended up speedreading it in about 30 minutes just to see if anyone redeemed themselves. Nope.
October 5, 2008
I read this book in one day, so that'll tell you it was entertaining and for the most part, well written. But I had problems with the content, the pacing of the book, and most of all, the protagonist. 1. the content: I know there are people out there like this. but I still can't believe it which made it impossible for me to suspend my disbelief and just take this book as it was. Is that world for real? Or is the book an over-exaggeration? I suppose the problem could just be that I'm not part of the target audience. 2. The character fell down the rabbit hole too quickly and then made an about-face just as fast. Which really brings me to number 3. Anna was no better than the characters she looked down on in that world. She was inconsistent, selfish, and annoying. I had no sympathy for her, even at the end. Yes, she's supposed to be 22, but her immaturity was grating. She also wasn't very well-developed, and neither were her students, friends, or even the settings for that matter. It was all very one-dimensional. There were characters that were introduced and then immediately abandoned; I really wanted to know more about the LaVeras. Or tidbits thrown in that had me thinking, "wait, what?" (Damien was Teacher of the Year?). Speaking of Damien, what about him? He really served as a bookend when there was so much more to learn about him. How did he sever his relationship with the tutoring world and yet still have enough support to win the award?
All in all, I'd say this was a good first effort, but definitely not my cup of tea.
All in all, I'd say this was a good first effort, but definitely not my cup of tea.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
January 13, 2025
As someone who is about to enter the job market this book touched on all of my current struggles <3
September 5, 2008
Just in time for the new school year, a novel that will interest teachers, parents, tutors, and anyone interested in who is really doing the homework sent home by teachers today. It's an eye opener. Darkly humourous, SCHOOLED was written by a former English teacher in Manhattan.
The story follows Anna Taggert's first year of teaching private middle school children and the shock of discovery about rich kids and the tutors who write their homework assignments for them. An enthusiastic new Ivy League graduate, Anna doesn't just want to teach, she wants to inspire her students. The paycheck isn't great but she's doing what she loves.Until she inadvertantly discovers that high-priced tutors are writing the homework assignments of some of her own students. But she's really shocked when she is encouraged by other teachers and the parents not to ask questions. Even school administration tells her to let the kids slide because, well, their parents make big donations to the school. The parents she's in contact with defend the practice because their poor dears are under such pressure to excel, or have emotional problems and need extra consideration because they absolutely must get into the best universities in the future.
The shock begins to wear off when she's offered a job tutoring in the evenings for $200 an hour. The kids in her class love her when she lets them slide and begins dressing to their own extravagantly rich standards. The parents love her when she doesn't give them homework or tests, especially tests. The pressure is just too much for the little darlings you understand. Anna falls into temptation and doing things the easy way until her conscience catches up with her. She comes to realize how far she's comprised her own principles and something has to change. Lakhani calls this story fiction based on her own experiences as a teacher and those of her colleagues. It's witty, rings true, and is often downright funny. Four stars out of five. I recommend it.
****
Thanks to the generosity of Hyperion Books you may WIN one of TWO Avanced Reading Copies of SCHOOLED by Anisha Lakhani
Open worldwide until midnight Monday, September 8
To enter go here:
http://freshinkbooks.blogspot.com/
The story follows Anna Taggert's first year of teaching private middle school children and the shock of discovery about rich kids and the tutors who write their homework assignments for them. An enthusiastic new Ivy League graduate, Anna doesn't just want to teach, she wants to inspire her students. The paycheck isn't great but she's doing what she loves.Until she inadvertantly discovers that high-priced tutors are writing the homework assignments of some of her own students. But she's really shocked when she is encouraged by other teachers and the parents not to ask questions. Even school administration tells her to let the kids slide because, well, their parents make big donations to the school. The parents she's in contact with defend the practice because their poor dears are under such pressure to excel, or have emotional problems and need extra consideration because they absolutely must get into the best universities in the future.
The shock begins to wear off when she's offered a job tutoring in the evenings for $200 an hour. The kids in her class love her when she lets them slide and begins dressing to their own extravagantly rich standards. The parents love her when she doesn't give them homework or tests, especially tests. The pressure is just too much for the little darlings you understand. Anna falls into temptation and doing things the easy way until her conscience catches up with her. She comes to realize how far she's comprised her own principles and something has to change. Lakhani calls this story fiction based on her own experiences as a teacher and those of her colleagues. It's witty, rings true, and is often downright funny. Four stars out of five. I recommend it.
****
Thanks to the generosity of Hyperion Books you may WIN one of TWO Avanced Reading Copies of SCHOOLED by Anisha Lakhani
Open worldwide until midnight Monday, September 8
To enter go here:
http://freshinkbooks.blogspot.com/
April 15, 2019
As a former public school teacher and affiliate of education, I found this book very discouraging. Anisha set out with the right mentality, but was very easily sold on an idea and a scam that is being paid hundreds for a fallacy. After accepting bribe after bride from wealthy families to do their childrens' homework for them in exchange for exorbitant amounts of cash, she somehow comes to the conclusion that if the students do work only in the classroom at school, she could actually get a chance to see what they really know. I'm not sure why it took her almost an entire school year to arrive at this conclusion having been educated at Columbia University, but there it is. After all of this, she leaves the classroom the year this book is published, and then begins her new career as a freelance writer. At least she wrote a book about her experiences. I fear that in too many parts, though, the experience she had of becoming wealthy to the detriment of the 1% of America's wealthy kids is too glamorized. I was waiting for some kind of "Music of Heart" or "Mr. Holland's Opus" breakthrough, but none came. I can't blame her for leaving the classroom, but I'd rather read about someone who was helping to change the ever prominent issue of wealthy kids getting out of working in school through bribery.
November 23, 2009
LOVED this book! A must read for any teacher who has ever taught in a private school or who tutors (both for me, probably why I loved it so much). Lakhani has the ability to echo the feelings so many new & young teachers have, likely because she is a teacher herself. She writes so fluidly one can hardly bare to put the book down! I read this in record time, excited about every twist and turn that our protagonist encounters. However, as is the problem with too many novels, I was slightly disappointed at the end - it just did not wrap up wholly for me and I felt it was like a rush to the finish line. I was expecting as least one more well-written chapter and was disappointed when it just ended. But, this aside, pick it up! A light fun read, perfect for the holiday season.
August 23, 2015
Couldn't put it down! One of the best books I've read in a long time!
January 23, 2022
This book was easy read andI really enjoyed it.
The first person narrative reads like autobiography and the reader can easily see the story played out. The author is completely self aware every step of the way and articulates her digressions unapologetically. You can see how the life style can entice a young woman . The moral conflict is so evident and pulling herself out of this slippery slope is admirable.
Anisha has a talent for telling a story. I hope they can make it a movie someday . Hope she continues to write.
The first person narrative reads like autobiography and the reader can easily see the story played out. The author is completely self aware every step of the way and articulates her digressions unapologetically. You can see how the life style can entice a young woman . The moral conflict is so evident and pulling herself out of this slippery slope is admirable.
Anisha has a talent for telling a story. I hope they can make it a movie someday . Hope she continues to write.
May 30, 2020
I’ve had this book on my shelf for years and I’m so glad I picked it up. I used to teach seventh grade like Anna and I found so many things relatable. I also used to tutor, but unfortunately not the rich kids. I was very sad to see that the author has not written another book. I think any middle school teacher would enjoy this book.
July 31, 2021
picked this up at a used book sale in Vermont and while it definitely wouldn’t win any awards for prose, I thought it was super interesting! definitely an important look into the craziness that is Manhattan public schools & I’m super interested in education inequity so this was right up my alley
October 5, 2025
A young bright-eyed teacher finds herself sucked into the web of private school society life in New York City. It's a typical NYC socialite vapid plot but nonetheless sometimes escapist fluff is fun!
May 9, 2020
meh. 1.5
October 15, 2024
Great short read about a teacher learning about the private school teaching world. Just when you give up on the main character, she remembers herself and why she is teaching in the first place.
November 30, 2022
"This is just... not a good book, guys." - Episode 101, FAIRY SCHOOLED
https://thetoreadlistpodcast.libsyn.c...
https://thetoreadlistpodcast.libsyn.c...
August 31, 2008
My Review of SCHOOLED by Anisha Lakhani
For those of us who are teachers, we are too late! The “Nanny Diaries” of education we have always wanted to pen, has been written. Anisha Lakhani’s Schooled is the story of Anna Taggert and her experiences with the world of education from the teacher’s side of the desk…. well, at least if the desk is in privileged Manhattan private schools. Anna, who comes from a grounded family of well educated parents who are pleased she is graduating from Columbia, are shocked when she tells them she is going to teach. She has the drive and heart of the young, dedicated, and clueless who go into education for all the right reasons and haven’t as yet been jaded by the bureaucracy and red tape! She is prepared for the reality of lesson plans, inspiring students, and smaller paychecks, or thinks she is until she really gets into the job.
Anna quickly notices that all the students, as well as an aloof teacher named “Randi”; all dress better than she does. Their Channel book bags alone cost more than a month’s salary. Her walkup apartment is far from the rewards her Ivy League friends are now living in with their high paying jobs. It doesn’t take Anna too long to realize that not only do the students not want to do the work she enthusiastically tries to inspire them to do, but nor do the parents whose interests only lie in the “A” grade. Their child’s admission to THE “right college” with these “A” grades, as well as time to socialize outside of school, attending every party, bar mitzvah, and opening available to them is these parents’ and children’s priority. Anna finds that the work her students turn in, impressive as it is, is not being done by them at all, but rather by high paid tutors—VERY high paid tutors!
Her idealism is short lived as she is lured into the life tutoring can afford her. When reprimanded by the headmaster for making students actually work in class, Anna finally relents. As she connects with Randi and the golden haired mothers outside school, Anna is enticed by the designer clothes and is soon strutting into school herself in Juicy jumpsuits, with a new designer bag by her side. She spends her days off literally spending at Barney’s, being hosted at swanky restaurants for lunch and dinner, and residing at a new address on Madison Avenue. Anna goes overboard as the heady feeling of this lifestyle carries her away, but it doesn’t take much for reality to quickly burst her bubble and finally pop her back into the real world.
How Anna handles the precocious adolescents and parents and her whirlwind life in the fast lane of name-dropping fashion and places she is wined and dined, makes for a delightfully decadent romp in Manhattan’s world of private education. Anisha Lakhani’s personal connection with this real slice of the privileged life, adds a bit of authenticity to a story that most mortals, especially educators, might find hard to believe. The story entertains and is a fast, light read that keeps you going if for no other reason than to read more about a life one would like to temporarily imagine living in! Strongly recommended for an enjoyable education!
Submitted by Karen Haney, July, 2008
For those of us who are teachers, we are too late! The “Nanny Diaries” of education we have always wanted to pen, has been written. Anisha Lakhani’s Schooled is the story of Anna Taggert and her experiences with the world of education from the teacher’s side of the desk…. well, at least if the desk is in privileged Manhattan private schools. Anna, who comes from a grounded family of well educated parents who are pleased she is graduating from Columbia, are shocked when she tells them she is going to teach. She has the drive and heart of the young, dedicated, and clueless who go into education for all the right reasons and haven’t as yet been jaded by the bureaucracy and red tape! She is prepared for the reality of lesson plans, inspiring students, and smaller paychecks, or thinks she is until she really gets into the job.
Anna quickly notices that all the students, as well as an aloof teacher named “Randi”; all dress better than she does. Their Channel book bags alone cost more than a month’s salary. Her walkup apartment is far from the rewards her Ivy League friends are now living in with their high paying jobs. It doesn’t take Anna too long to realize that not only do the students not want to do the work she enthusiastically tries to inspire them to do, but nor do the parents whose interests only lie in the “A” grade. Their child’s admission to THE “right college” with these “A” grades, as well as time to socialize outside of school, attending every party, bar mitzvah, and opening available to them is these parents’ and children’s priority. Anna finds that the work her students turn in, impressive as it is, is not being done by them at all, but rather by high paid tutors—VERY high paid tutors!
Her idealism is short lived as she is lured into the life tutoring can afford her. When reprimanded by the headmaster for making students actually work in class, Anna finally relents. As she connects with Randi and the golden haired mothers outside school, Anna is enticed by the designer clothes and is soon strutting into school herself in Juicy jumpsuits, with a new designer bag by her side. She spends her days off literally spending at Barney’s, being hosted at swanky restaurants for lunch and dinner, and residing at a new address on Madison Avenue. Anna goes overboard as the heady feeling of this lifestyle carries her away, but it doesn’t take much for reality to quickly burst her bubble and finally pop her back into the real world.
How Anna handles the precocious adolescents and parents and her whirlwind life in the fast lane of name-dropping fashion and places she is wined and dined, makes for a delightfully decadent romp in Manhattan’s world of private education. Anisha Lakhani’s personal connection with this real slice of the privileged life, adds a bit of authenticity to a story that most mortals, especially educators, might find hard to believe. The story entertains and is a fast, light read that keeps you going if for no other reason than to read more about a life one would like to temporarily imagine living in! Strongly recommended for an enjoyable education!
Submitted by Karen Haney, July, 2008
June 7, 2011
Oh man...I could relate to this book!
Anna goes into teaching because she is passionate about her students. But when she is finally standing on the other side of the classroom, she discovers the politics behind a school and the ranges parents will go to ensure their child is the "most brillant" straight-A student.
What I love is that Anna stumbled across the first-year learning experience. Anna fell for the trap that in order to be a good teacher she had to perform to make her students and her parents like her. Teachers are not there to be liked. They are there to teach and teach well. This is very commonly mixed-up in today's society. You don't have to like your teacher in order to learn. Sadly, Anna didn't really learn that until the end of her first school year. This is something that all teachers have to learn from experience. You must hit the year hard-nosed and then ease in. Anna just couldn't flip her classroom in two weeks at the end realistically.
So Anna discovers that her salary isn't enough, she does what most teachers do: find a part-time job. She stumbled across Manhattan-lucrative tutoring jobs. I say this because the hourly $200+ rate is not normal.
Anna's fatal flaw is that once she popped she couldn't stop! This implies that as soon as she felt the money start to come in, she wanted more tutoring hours, and more sadly, more expensive materialistic items to keep up with her students and their moms. Psshhhh...
What this really revealed was our sad state of education especially compared to other countries. Our students are behind the times and parents see value in other items. I did like Damien's theory though that adults are expected to work 9-5 with no take-home work while students are expected to do hours of homework after school and their extra-curricular actitives. Why the double standard?
I would love love love to read a sequel to this book and discover what Anna takes what she has learned from her first year into her next year.
There were comments that Anna didn't focus on the faculty or the school and that the K-12 school consisted of her 50 students only. This is what happens in a teacher's world. His/her world is his/her classroom. Faculties have cliques, too. Teachers end up making their world consist of the few teachers that surround their room and worry themselves sick about their students. And as a first year teacher, you do what you have to do to survive. This means that you don't have time to make new friends or venture around; you survive.
Lovely lovely novel that really portrays the struggle of a new teacher learning that you can't teach to please your students; you teach for the job of actually seeing them struggle, comprehend and learn. Also this is a sad portrayal about the joy of making more than enough money to get by but falling pray to a materialistic society. Much joy to finally discovering what teacher you really want to be and how you can reach beyond all of the obstacles and complaints to really get there.
Thank you Anisha!
Anna goes into teaching because she is passionate about her students. But when she is finally standing on the other side of the classroom, she discovers the politics behind a school and the ranges parents will go to ensure their child is the "most brillant" straight-A student.
What I love is that Anna stumbled across the first-year learning experience. Anna fell for the trap that in order to be a good teacher she had to perform to make her students and her parents like her. Teachers are not there to be liked. They are there to teach and teach well. This is very commonly mixed-up in today's society. You don't have to like your teacher in order to learn. Sadly, Anna didn't really learn that until the end of her first school year. This is something that all teachers have to learn from experience. You must hit the year hard-nosed and then ease in. Anna just couldn't flip her classroom in two weeks at the end realistically.
So Anna discovers that her salary isn't enough, she does what most teachers do: find a part-time job. She stumbled across Manhattan-lucrative tutoring jobs. I say this because the hourly $200+ rate is not normal.
Anna's fatal flaw is that once she popped she couldn't stop! This implies that as soon as she felt the money start to come in, she wanted more tutoring hours, and more sadly, more expensive materialistic items to keep up with her students and their moms. Psshhhh...
What this really revealed was our sad state of education especially compared to other countries. Our students are behind the times and parents see value in other items. I did like Damien's theory though that adults are expected to work 9-5 with no take-home work while students are expected to do hours of homework after school and their extra-curricular actitives. Why the double standard?
I would love love love to read a sequel to this book and discover what Anna takes what she has learned from her first year into her next year.
There were comments that Anna didn't focus on the faculty or the school and that the K-12 school consisted of her 50 students only. This is what happens in a teacher's world. His/her world is his/her classroom. Faculties have cliques, too. Teachers end up making their world consist of the few teachers that surround their room and worry themselves sick about their students. And as a first year teacher, you do what you have to do to survive. This means that you don't have time to make new friends or venture around; you survive.
Lovely lovely novel that really portrays the struggle of a new teacher learning that you can't teach to please your students; you teach for the job of actually seeing them struggle, comprehend and learn. Also this is a sad portrayal about the joy of making more than enough money to get by but falling pray to a materialistic society. Much joy to finally discovering what teacher you really want to be and how you can reach beyond all of the obstacles and complaints to really get there.
Thank you Anisha!
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
February 18, 2010
The simple storyline of this book is as follows: a recent Columbia graduate, Anna Taggert is passionate about teaching despite her parents’ protests about it being a waste of her Ivy League degree. She finds herself lucky to receive a position at a Manhattan Upper East Side private school, but soon discovers it’s nothing like she expected.
First of all, she lives in what she considers poverty. Then the administration comes down hard on her when she starts teaching “real” lessons, saying that she’s trying to make the rest of them look bad. Everything caters to the families who are listed as “Friends” of the school (aka those who donate the most money). Her students boss her around, her students’ parents bribe her and threaten her, and she is pressured into not giving actual grades. More outrageous stuff happens.
But then Anna discovers the mysterious and lucrative tutoring world. As soon as she realizes she can score $200 an hour or more, she’s hooked. She balks a little at first when she is slowly suckered into actually DOING her clients’ homework, but the justifications soon set in. Before long she’s not only a part of the private school world that she despised, she’s the epitome of it.
Schooled was a quick, easy read that I found myself mildly fascinated with and appalled by. But in the end, it was too shallow. We only get to know a few characters, and they are one-sided. No real relationships are formed. There is a single plot without any depth. Although it was written to make a point, I have my doubts as to how realistic the story actually is.
We get a picture of students who can barely write a coherent paragraph being carried through the most prestigious schools because tutors are doing their work for them. They make it into Ivy League schools and land big-wig jobs simply because of their name or their family’s money. While that may happen on occasion, I don’t think it happens in such a general way as this book made it seem.
In the end, Anna returns to her morals and figures out a way to actually teach. The problem is, her solution was obvious from the very beginning.
First of all, she lives in what she considers poverty. Then the administration comes down hard on her when she starts teaching “real” lessons, saying that she’s trying to make the rest of them look bad. Everything caters to the families who are listed as “Friends” of the school (aka those who donate the most money). Her students boss her around, her students’ parents bribe her and threaten her, and she is pressured into not giving actual grades. More outrageous stuff happens.
But then Anna discovers the mysterious and lucrative tutoring world. As soon as she realizes she can score $200 an hour or more, she’s hooked. She balks a little at first when she is slowly suckered into actually DOING her clients’ homework, but the justifications soon set in. Before long she’s not only a part of the private school world that she despised, she’s the epitome of it.
Schooled was a quick, easy read that I found myself mildly fascinated with and appalled by. But in the end, it was too shallow. We only get to know a few characters, and they are one-sided. No real relationships are formed. There is a single plot without any depth. Although it was written to make a point, I have my doubts as to how realistic the story actually is.
We get a picture of students who can barely write a coherent paragraph being carried through the most prestigious schools because tutors are doing their work for them. They make it into Ivy League schools and land big-wig jobs simply because of their name or their family’s money. While that may happen on occasion, I don’t think it happens in such a general way as this book made it seem.
In the end, Anna returns to her morals and figures out a way to actually teach. The problem is, her solution was obvious from the very beginning.
June 25, 2010
For honesty's sake, this is really worth two stars considering a severe lack of subtlety in the writing as well as unwelcome hyperbole. But the premise was so close to my heart, and Lakhani really nailed it, that I would even give this four stars if my integrity weren't at stake.
As someone who teaches English, and has taught in snooty private schools, and has often seen the ugly side of pleasing parents and their children and their principals which generally means pretending to teach but not working them too hard and all the while knowing that someone else is producing their work so as to guarantee A's, I found this book to be almost laugh out loud relatable.
Lakhani, no surprise, did time herself in a snooty Manhattan school, and produces a lot of firsthand knowledge of the awkwardness of that first year of teaching and the smarmy politics you become privy to. She takes it up a notch, though, in a way that REALLY speaks to the heart of a teacher, by producing a protagonist who realizes that while teaching pays squat, tutoring (or rather intense editing/ghostwriting) is what really pays the big bucks. And so she pursues a double life, essentially back stabbing herself as she does other teachers' assignments to assure a lifestyle grander than that of what a teacher can usually count on.
I loved the honesty of this work - the parents' entitled and condescending phone messages could be quoted verbatim from my own experience, as well as the boys' club attitude on the part of the school to keep the wealthy parents from harm. I enjoyed the temptation to slack off as a teacher all the while suffering from realizing that no one is truly gaining. I related to the threatening feeling the new, popular teacher brings to the school, and how the kids respond to actually learning. All in all this really captured the many mixed emotions of teaching and how hard work really does pay, if not in actual dollars or in popularity. So while it is a light and rather poorly written read (and she's an English teacher who became chair! Sheesh), I can't recommend it enough for anyone in the business.
As someone who teaches English, and has taught in snooty private schools, and has often seen the ugly side of pleasing parents and their children and their principals which generally means pretending to teach but not working them too hard and all the while knowing that someone else is producing their work so as to guarantee A's, I found this book to be almost laugh out loud relatable.
Lakhani, no surprise, did time herself in a snooty Manhattan school, and produces a lot of firsthand knowledge of the awkwardness of that first year of teaching and the smarmy politics you become privy to. She takes it up a notch, though, in a way that REALLY speaks to the heart of a teacher, by producing a protagonist who realizes that while teaching pays squat, tutoring (or rather intense editing/ghostwriting) is what really pays the big bucks. And so she pursues a double life, essentially back stabbing herself as she does other teachers' assignments to assure a lifestyle grander than that of what a teacher can usually count on.
I loved the honesty of this work - the parents' entitled and condescending phone messages could be quoted verbatim from my own experience, as well as the boys' club attitude on the part of the school to keep the wealthy parents from harm. I enjoyed the temptation to slack off as a teacher all the while suffering from realizing that no one is truly gaining. I related to the threatening feeling the new, popular teacher brings to the school, and how the kids respond to actually learning. All in all this really captured the many mixed emotions of teaching and how hard work really does pay, if not in actual dollars or in popularity. So while it is a light and rather poorly written read (and she's an English teacher who became chair! Sheesh), I can't recommend it enough for anyone in the business.
February 16, 2021
wow. this was a far cry from the friend's seminary, oakwood friends school, teachers college, and sarah lawrence that i knew back in the 1980's, with pipe-smoking professors in rotted brooks brothers tweeds, boarding school friendless instructors smiling for no reason whatsoever in front of a sink full of filthy, oatmeal crudded institutional-sized pots, and spasmodic, stroke-plagued scholars. from what it sounded like in the book, the atmosphere was a carbon copy of, say, great neck in long island, especially around the kings point enclave. the parents were a bunch of nuts who should have had the decency to move to coral gables, upper montclair,bronxville, palm beach, or bedford hills where there values would have been far more uniform with the rest of the populace and less worthy of note. failure to these folk's kids was absolutely out of the question. i have known teachers who actually feel sorry for these kids and, yes indeed, it's very hard to feel sorry for folk such as these. teaching anywhere can be a lonely business. standoffishness, rudeness, etc. amongst fellow teachers and administrators are occupational hazzards as lakhani aptly points out, whether it's the upper east side or the south bronx. feeling disenfranchised isn't so difficult to understand when a teacher makes less than the average sanitation worker. i couldn't put this book down for all the tea in china! the only thing that left me unsettled was how ms. taggart just instantly woke up on the spur of the moment out of nowhere and acted upon the fact that her newly created lifestyle just wasn't a fit in the slightest for her after she had known this all too well through the entirety of the book. living in such a cold and wicked city for those who weren't young and/or rich only intensified her roller coaster ride. despite her economic enhancement, she was living as a recluse. buying designer clothes just couldn't quench the misery any longer. what was she going to do thereafter, i wondered: go teach ESL in some remote village in guatemala or become a snorkeling instructor on st. kitts?
April 28, 2015
Everyone close to Anna seems to think it's a bad idea for her to become a teacher. Her parents and best friend all warn her that she won't do well on a teacher's salary. Teaching is her dream and Anna wants to get her students excited about learning. She thinks she'll be the cool teacher, someone who can both teach and be loved by her students as well.
She goes to work at a very prestigious Upper East Side school. She learns very quickly that any time she asks the students to do any real work at all that their parents will call to complain.
The students come from very wealthy families, families that invest money in the school. So, she's given reminders from her bosses that she's not to question the parents' wishes.
One day, something happens that causes Anna to snap. She feels that she can't inspire the kids to learn with their parents constantly questioning her motives.
When a very lucrative deal is offered to her of tutoring, she has to consider.
She's being offered hundreds of dollars an hour to tutor kids from other schools.
It's very easy for her to make a ton of money tutoring, which sometimes crosses the line between teaching and doing the actual work.
I liked the way Anna's morals were questioned. She would never have pictured herself doing this. It's the opposite of what she wants to do. It goes against everything she stands for.
But when she seems to keep getting rewarded for making the wrong choices, she has to question whether she can really have the job she dreamed of even if she does everything right.
She goes to work at a very prestigious Upper East Side school. She learns very quickly that any time she asks the students to do any real work at all that their parents will call to complain.
The students come from very wealthy families, families that invest money in the school. So, she's given reminders from her bosses that she's not to question the parents' wishes.
One day, something happens that causes Anna to snap. She feels that she can't inspire the kids to learn with their parents constantly questioning her motives.
When a very lucrative deal is offered to her of tutoring, she has to consider.
She's being offered hundreds of dollars an hour to tutor kids from other schools.
It's very easy for her to make a ton of money tutoring, which sometimes crosses the line between teaching and doing the actual work.
I liked the way Anna's morals were questioned. She would never have pictured herself doing this. It's the opposite of what she wants to do. It goes against everything she stands for.
But when she seems to keep getting rewarded for making the wrong choices, she has to question whether she can really have the job she dreamed of even if she does everything right.
Read
September 16, 2008I decided not to finish this book since I have read similar books before and I have a ton of books with which I would rather spend my time. After reading the first few chapters, I found that I have very little sympathy for the main character and rich helicopter parents and their offspring. As a former educator, I wonder about the ethics of the author and others like her who apparently "tutor" students for ridiculous amounts of money which they spend on Manolos and designer handbags. Whatever happened to the vow of "genteel poverty" lol?
December 24, 2009
Loved this book and a quick read, too. For anyone who is or has been a teacher or tutor, so many truths on so many levels and all with wry wit and much humor. And, yes, those moms on Manhattan's upper East Side ARE really like that! You find some in New Jersey, too!
September 21, 2015
This NY society scares the shit out of me, and this book was disappointing, because it was apparent that the author is not eloquent and imaginative enough to lie creatively (write fiction creatively?) about Manhattan education.
cantfinish
June 17, 2011I'm pretty sure I've read this before, but it was called something else. I can no longer enjoy books about bratty children and heir bratty teachers. Perhaps this is what impending motherhood does to you? I mean, really, who cares?
August 13, 2013
This may never win the Booker, but for a former teacher of English, it was full of lovely reasons to celebrate the word "former".
Unless you're really keen on books about teachers, high school, or really rich people - probably best skipped.
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