This volume is a collection of classic essays - as urgently needed now as when they first appeared - on social class, race, gender, and schooling crafted over the course of two decades. The authors invite all of us to take a serious look at the paradox of public education - the ways in which urban schools reproduce social inequalities while, at the same time, serve as sites for learning at its most transformative and compelling. A must-read for all those educators who believe that ""we can no longer afford to cede this space to policymakers who know little of the life of a classroom, the curiosity of a child, and the moral imperatives of teaching for critical citizenship.