These schools belong to you and me: why we can't afford to abandon our public schools

MacArthur Award-winning educator, reformer, and author, Deborah Meier, draws on her fifty-plus years of experience to argue that the purpose of universal education is to provide young people with an "apprenticeship for citizenship in a democracy." Through an inter-generational exchange with her former colleague and fellow educator, Emily Gasoi, the co-authors share their experiences working in democratically governed schools, and analyze the last several decades of education reform.

Reflecting on the trajectory of education and social policies that are leading our country further from rule "of, for, and by the people," the authors apply their long years of experience and research to address the question of how public education must change in order to counter the erosion of democratic spirit and practice in schools and the nation as a whole.