Crazy Like a Fox: One Principal’s Triumph in the Inner City
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Product Description
The inspiring right tale of one man’s determination to make a difference- and the school he changed forever.
“If you act like a winner, you’ll be treated like a winner. If you act like a fool, you’ll be treated like a fool.”
This is the golden rule set into the world by Dr. Ben Chavis, the highly unorthodox principal of Oakland, California’s American Indian Public Charter School, which was hailed as an “education miracle” by Administrator Arnold Schwarzenegger after it was transformed from a failing “nuisance” into one of the best public middle schools in the nation.
This is the tale of how one man, in daring to be different, effected such stunning change. With his rigorous, no-nonsense approach, Dr. Ben Chavis debunks the myth that poor, minority, inner-city schools have small chance at literary excellence. Focusing on back-to-basics ideals, he has made a structured educational model that, combined with the enthusiasm of his students and teachers, delivers astounding results.
Now, Dr. Chavis recounts how he did it-in his own words and through the tales of the extraordinary young people he’s helped.
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Could it be that we are going back to the basics in education? How quaint would it be to make the students reliable for their behavior? How refreshing to read that we don’t have to pamper our small darling’s egos so they can have an effective adulthood! I wish all our schools could be run the way Mr. Chavis runs his. The tale is appealing, the telling is repetitive, boggy, and tiresome at times. I would give it a B-.
Reader’s Rating: 3 / 5
I can’t recommend this book enough. At its core, this is a blueprint for how to turn around failing schools. In a handful of years, Dr. Chavis took one of the worst public schools in Oakland, CA, and turned it into one of the top 5 schools in all of California — and then replicated the same model in several additional schools. For persons interested in education reform, it is a must-read: his reform proposals are straightforward, easily implementable, and — based on his schools’ test scores — very effective. What’s more, the book is a fun read, peppered with anecdotes from the schools and Dr. Chavis’ colorful personal history; there’s no dense literary jargon here.
Be forewarned, this book will not please everyone. Dr. Chavis is controversial, to say the least. He is openly scornful of a lot of well loved views of how to reform education and at one point accuses certain facets of liberal ideology as having done more harm to minorities than the KKK. He is frequently not P.C. in this book or in his verbal interactions with his students in a way that will make some uncomfortable: for instance, he believes that embarrassing kids who are being rebellious is a legitimate learning tool. That said, like or despise Dr. Chavis’ more contrarian views, there are lots of valuable lessons in here that people of every political stripe should be examining.
A personal note in closing: in the book Dr. Chavis invites readers to visit his charter school, and I took him up on the offer. The first thing I noticed at the American Indian Public Charter School was how clean and silent the campus was — very different from some additional Oakland schools. Dr. Chavis, who retired from being the principal a few years ago, showed me a few classrooms — the kids were respectful, engaged in the theme-matter, and (when I glanced at their coursework) doing advanced stuff for their grade-level. I was impressed. Another thing I noticed was that, despite critics accusing Dr. Chavis of being too harsh on his students, every time he interacted with a student (patting them on the back, asking about family tree) they had the largest smiles on their faces; they clearly like him, probably because it is so clear how deeply he cares about them and their future.
Reader’s Rating: 5 / 5
What is the purpose of public education?
Careful. How you answer will determine what you reflect of Dr. Chavis’ methods.
If you agree that the purpose of public education is to PREPARE students live productive, constructive lives, then you’ll agree that Dr. Chavis’ method, “AIM to Educate” (American Indian Model) gets results where only a few years before, the “school” had been really out of control.
The school takes a non-nonsense approach to teaching the basics, and tends heavily towards strict structure and discipline. And its students are all the better for it.
Full disclosure: I learned the[...] (American Indian Public Charter School) website a couple of months ago. The remarkable results (especially for an inner-city school) inspired me to send it a booklet I wrote, “Booker T. Washington – American Hero” (free for the asking at www (dot) [...]) as BTW started his teaching career at Hampton Institute (VA) by getting feuding Indian tribes to cooperate.
To my surprise, Dr. Chavis phoned me and I chose to visit the school to see for myself. I had unlimited access for four days (mandatory math summer school was in session).
From my own eyes and ears, I say he has the answer. GET THE BOOK!
But do not simply read it. Make your own middle and high school principles read it and better yet, start to apply AIM to Educate. Or else, for inner city kids, their future will be bleak indeed.
Reader’s Rating: 5 / 5
This is a fabulous book about a fabulous man who proves that under-privileged kids can learn and excel. He took over a poor “Indian” charter school in Oakland, and made it into the 4th best scoring middle school in the state. Everyone should read this book and be aware of Ben Chavis. This man has the vision to change our union dominated school system which leaves kids behind, into a vibrant educational system that prepares these same kids for college.
Reader’s Rating: 5 / 5
“Crazy Like A Fox” is a most commanding vehicle by which Dr. Chavis continues his bold, desperately-needed, challenge to America’s impotent educational practices. With the concise writing style of Carey Blakely, it is a biting condemnation of persons who enrich themselves by cheating our children of their right to be effectively educated; an achievement indispensable to their individual economic success.
This book demonstrates how a most principled educator prepares students for the realities of America’s free enterprise system. That educator repeatedly illustrates how his schools’ children are capable of reaching the highest standards of achievement, when that achievement is really expected of them.
Dr. Chavis and Carey Blakely are strict advocates of persons educating methods that really work. Their apolitical publication adheres to the leader’s “back-to-basics” stance. It provides impressive empirical data, as well as detailed accountings of his successes. “Crazy Like A Fox” lays out the fundamentals of Dr. Chavis’ American Indian Model of Education in clear, understandable terms, to encourage ease of replication. It’s all about empowering individuals with a sure formula for success; i.e., achievement through hard work and self-discipline.
All families with school-age children, as well as persons educators who are dismayed by America’s unconscionable dumbing down of its youth, absolutely must read this zesty eye-opener! ###
Reader’s Rating: 5 / 5