Synopses & Reviews
For many students, the classroom is not the central focus of school. The school's corridors and doorways are areas largely given over to student control, and it is here that they negotiate their cultural identities and status among their peer groups. The flavor of this "corridor culture" tends to reflect the values and culture of the surrounding community.
Based on participant observation in a racially segregated high school in New York City, Corridor Cultures examines the ways in which school spaces are culturally produced, offering insight into how urban students engage their schooling. Focusing on the tension between the student-dominated halls and the teacher-dominated classrooms and drawing on insights from critical geographers and anthropology, it provides new perspectives on the complex relationships between Black students and schools to better explain the persistence of urban school failure and to imagine ways of resolving the contradictions that undermine the educational prospects of too many of the nations' children.
Dickar explores competing discourses about who students are, what the purpose of schooling should be, and what knowledge is valuable as they become spatialized in daily school life. This spatial analysis calls attention to the contradictions inherent in official school discourses and those generated by students and teachers more locally.By examining the form and substance of student/school engagement, Corridor Cultures argues for a more nuanced and broader framework that reads multiple forms of resistance and recognizes the ways students themselves are conflicted about schooling.
Review
"Provides an insightful analysis of the ways in which space and social relationships interact to produce school cultures. Dickar's detailed analysis of this urban high school contains important lessons about the limits and possibilities of school reform. This potent study is valuable reading for policy makers and educators searching for ways to promote meaningful and lasting reform in our nation's urban schools."-Pedro A. Noguera,author of The Trouble with Black Boys: And Other Reflections on Race, Equity, and the Future of Public Education
Review
"The rich evidence and introduction of new analytic tools make Dickar's work an intriguing contribution to educational research."-Book Notes,
Review
"A unique perspective on the problems facing schools in urban centers."
-Choice,
Review
“Dickar's analysis is sophisticated without resorting to jargon-laden prose, and should be relevant to and consumable by students, teachers, administrators, policy makers and academics interested in urban education reform, critical analyzes of race, class and gender, and domination and resistance. Above all, this work has important implications for understanding the processes by which urban youth and their schools negotiate their relationship.”
-Journal of Youth and Adolescence,
Review
"Provides an insightful analysis of the ways in which space and social relationships interact to produce school cultures. Dickar's detailed analysis of this urban high school contains important lessons about the limits and possibilities of school reform. This potent study is valuable reading for policy makers and educators searching for ways to promote meaningful and lasting reform in our nation's urban schools."
"The rich evidence and introduction of new analytic tools make Dickar's work an intriguing contribution to educational research."
"A unique perspective on the problems facing schools in urban centers."
“Dickar's analysis is sophisticated without resorting to jargon-laden prose, and should be relevant to and consumable by students, teachers, administrators, policy makers and academics interested in urban education reform, critical analyzes of race, class and gender, and domination and resistance. Above all, this work has important implications for understanding the processes by which urban youth and their schools negotiate their relationship.”
Review
"Goldfarb argues persuasively for cameras in the courtroom, O.J. notwithstanding. He is aware of the problems but believes strongly that the more open a courtroom, the more open and free our society. The challenge, which he describes so well, is to balance the new demanding technology against our traditional dedication to democracy."-Marvin Kalb,Director, Shorenstein Center on the Press, Politics, and Public Policy, Harvard University
Review
"A tour de force, a one-stop repositiory of the history, facts, and the law of the matter. I plan to plagiarize from it shamelessly. This is an important subject, and Goldfarb's book provides the first comprehensive, in-depth study of the issue."-Fred Graham,Chief Anchor and Managing Editor, Court TV
Review
"Going beyond the ovious controversies of recent years, Goldfarb surveys the role of television in courtrooms with cool but crisp detachement. He brings historical context, legal analysis, and rich experience to bear on the issue, concluding that courts are public institutions that do not belong exclusively to the judges and lawyers who run them. His persuasive argument for greater openness is bound to influence future debate on the topic."-Sanford J. Ungar,Dean, School of Communication, American University
Synopsis
In the last quarter century, televised court proceedings have gone from an outlandish idea to a seemingly inevitable reality. Yet,debate continues to rage over the dangers and benefits to the justice system of cameras in the courtroom. Critics contend television transforms the temple of justice into crass theatre. Supporters maintain that silent cameras portray "the real thing," that without them judicial reality is inevitably filtered through the mind and pens of a finite pool of reporters.
Television in a courtroom is clearly a two-edged sword, both invasive and informative. Bringing a trial to the widest possible audience creates pressures and temptations for all participants. While it reduces speculations and fears about what transpired, television sometimes forces the general public, which possesses information the jury may not have, into a conflicting assessment of specific cases and the justice system in general.
TV or Not TV argues convincingly that society gains much more than it loses when trials are open to public scrutiny and discussion.
About the Author
Ronald L. Goldfarb is the founding partner of a Washington D.C. law firm. With law degrees from Syracuse and Yale Universities and extensive experience in courtrooms, he is also the author of nine other books, including most recently Perfect Villains, Imperfect Heroes: Robert F. Kennedy's War Against Organized Crime.