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Hold Fast to Dreams: A College Guidance Counselor, His Students, and the Vision
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Hold Fast to Dreams: A College Guidance Counselor, His Students, and the Vision of a Life Beyond Poverty Hardback - 2014

by Beth Zasloff; Joshua Steckel

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From the publisher

An "invaluable" memoir by a counselor who left the elite private-school world to help poor and working-class kids get into college (Washington Monthly).

Winner of the Studs and Ida Terkel Prize

Joshua Steckel left an elite Manhattan school to serve as the first-ever college guidance counselor at a Brooklyn public high school--and has helped hundreds of disadvantaged kids gain acceptance. But getting in is only one part of the drama. This riveting work of narrative nonfiction follows the lives of ten of Josh's students as they navigate the vast, obstacle-ridden landscape of college in America, where students for whom the stakes of education are highest find unequal access and inadequate support.

Among the students we meet are Mike, who writes his essays from a homeless shelter and is torn between his longing to get away to an idyllic campus and his fear of leaving his family in desperate circumstances; Santiago, a talented, motivated, and undocumented student, who battles bureaucracy and low expectations as he seeks a life outside the low-wage world of manual labor; and Ashley, who pursues her ambition to become a doctor with almost superhuman drive--but then forges a path that challenges received wisdom about the value of an elite liberal arts education.

At a time when the idea of "college for all" is hotly debated, this book uncovers, in heartrending detail, the ways the American education system fails in its promise as a ladder to opportunity--yet provides hope in its portrayal of the intelligence, resilience, and everyday heroics of young people whose potential is too often ignored.

"A profound examination of the obstacles faced by low-income students . . . and the kinds of reforms needed to make higher education and the upward mobility it promises more accessible." --Booklist

Details

  • Title Hold Fast to Dreams: A College Guidance Counselor, His Students, and the Vision of a Life Beyond Poverty
  • Author Beth Zasloff; Joshua Steckel
  • Binding Hardback
  • Edition [ Edition: Repri
  • Pages 320
  • Volumes 1
  • Language ENG
  • Publisher New Press
  • Publication date 2014-03
  • Features Bibliography, Dust Cover, Table of Contents
  • ISBN 9781595589040 / 159558904X
  • Weight 1 lbs (0.45 kg)
  • Dimensions 8.1 x 5.8 x 1.2 in (20.57 x 14.73 x 3.05 cm)
  • Themes
    • Demographic Orientation: Urban
    • Ethnic Orientation: Multicultural
    • Interdisciplinary Studies: Education
  • Category Education / Teaching
  • Library of Congress subjects Academic achievement - United States, College choice - United States
  • Library of Congress Catalogue Number 2013043224
  • Dewey Decimal Code 371.409

Media reviews

Citations

  • Booklist, 03/01/2014, Page 5
  • Chronicle of Higher Education, 03/28/2014, Page 15
  • Kirkus Reviews, 03/01/2014, Page 0
  • Publishers Weekly, 12/23/2013, Page 0

About the author

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 Workmen's 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.
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