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Educating Milwaukee: How One City’s History of Segregation and Struggle Shaped Its Schools
"Milwaukee's story is unique in that its struggle for integration and quality education has been so closely tied to [school] choice." --from the Introduction
"Educating Milwaukee: How One City's History of Segregation and Struggle Shaped Its Schools" traces the origins of the modern school choice movement, which is growing in strength throughout the United States. Author James K. Nelsen follows Milwaukee's tumultuous education history through three eras--"no choice," "forced choice," and "school choice." Nelsen details the whole story of Milwaukee's choice movement through to modern times when Milwaukee families have more schooling options than ever--charter schools, open enrollment, state-funded vouchers, neighborhood schools--and yet Milwaukee's impoverished African American students still struggle to succeed and stay in school. "Educating Milwaukee" chronicles how competing visions of equity and excellence have played out in one city's schools in the modern era, offering both a cautionary tale and a "choice" example.
178 pages of text followed by extensive notes (pp. 179-252; bibliography pp. 253-271 plus acknowledgments & index.
"Educating Milwaukee: How One City's History of Segregation and Struggle Shaped Its Schools" traces the origins of the modern school choice movement, which is growing in strength throughout the United States. Author James K. Nelsen follows Milwaukee's tumultuous education history through three eras--"no choice," "forced choice," and "school choice." Nelsen details the whole story of Milwaukee's choice movement through to modern times when Milwaukee families have more schooling options than ever--charter schools, open enrollment, state-funded vouchers, neighborhood schools--and yet Milwaukee's impoverished African American students still struggle to succeed and stay in school. "Educating Milwaukee" chronicles how competing visions of equity and excellence have played out in one city's schools in the modern era, offering both a cautionary tale and a "choice" example.
178 pages of text followed by extensive notes (pp. 179-252; bibliography pp. 253-271 plus acknowledgments & index.
288 pages, Paperback
First published November 17, 2015
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Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews
May 7, 2018
If you have any interest in education, Milwaukee, racial or class disparities, and/or inept leadership, this is a must read. I would not describe Nelsen as a great writer, but his research is on point. It is downright frightening how so little has changed for the better since the mid 20th century when it comes to education and socioeconomic issues. I see my own community and school district making the same poor decisions that were and are being made in Milwaukee and MPS not based on any research or evidence but rather conjecture by a powerful few. I appreciate Nelsen posing the difficult question asking who is truly choosing when it comes to ""school choice.' This is a must read!
December 20, 2018
The historian in me is alive again after reading this. This is the first historical book I’ve read in this form since graduation, and I didn’t realize how much I missed this type of book. Also, I now have a better understanding of my own Independent Research I conducted my senior year. DAMN. After reading this book, I’m energized to write another thesis.
I was drawn to read this book as an employee of Milwaukee Public Schools. I need the backstory and details to understand the big picture (especially having my personal background being in the suburb and rural settings). This book provided significant amount of background information for Milwaukee’s history and their education system. Tracing back to how Milwaukee started as a city, the author gives a trajectory of the Milwaukee Public Schools system since the 1960s. I feel more connected to my employer after reading this, despite it being a major wake up call of how the district got to where it is today and how it is continuing to disintegrate.
Unfortunately, the information centering around how our students (specifically students of color) continuously get screwed over did not shock me. My senior thesis in undergrad emphasizes the same patterns of what I called “educational racism,” just in a different setting (East Los Angeles). Educating Milwaukee arguably honed in on another form of “educational racism” with how Milwaukee addressed integration and school choice.
James Nelsen, thank you for shedding light on such an important issue and awakening the educational historian within me once again. It feels good to be back.
I was drawn to read this book as an employee of Milwaukee Public Schools. I need the backstory and details to understand the big picture (especially having my personal background being in the suburb and rural settings). This book provided significant amount of background information for Milwaukee’s history and their education system. Tracing back to how Milwaukee started as a city, the author gives a trajectory of the Milwaukee Public Schools system since the 1960s. I feel more connected to my employer after reading this, despite it being a major wake up call of how the district got to where it is today and how it is continuing to disintegrate.
Unfortunately, the information centering around how our students (specifically students of color) continuously get screwed over did not shock me. My senior thesis in undergrad emphasizes the same patterns of what I called “educational racism,” just in a different setting (East Los Angeles). Educating Milwaukee arguably honed in on another form of “educational racism” with how Milwaukee addressed integration and school choice.
James Nelsen, thank you for shedding light on such an important issue and awakening the educational historian within me once again. It feels good to be back.
May 1, 2023
Choice in living versus attending schools. I struggle with allowing public school children to leave their local schools to attend remote schools because I believe schools will be better if we all focus on our immediate areas. The major drawback of my plan is this inherently damages inner-city schools because their property taxes do not generate the revenue that schools need. This leads to an inequality that’s difficult to account for within a municipality’s budget.
Busing, magnet, vouchers. Many options were discussed in the book and none of them solved the issue. Attending a school outside your area leads to long bus rides, lack of extra-curricular opportunities and much difficulty socializing.
What are the solutions? A main criticism of the book was the lack of solutions. It read more like a book designed to highlight the history but not the solutions. Another criticism along this line was the book could have used more anecdotes and more personal stories of success and failure. The writing was extremely dry and difficult to connect with as a reader.
“Milwaukee’s movement toward more choice was intended to give students equal educational opportunities. But while the choice of where to attend school is ostensibly vested in the students and their parents, the enrollment practices described here make one wonder who is doing the choosing.”
Busing, magnet, vouchers. Many options were discussed in the book and none of them solved the issue. Attending a school outside your area leads to long bus rides, lack of extra-curricular opportunities and much difficulty socializing.
What are the solutions? A main criticism of the book was the lack of solutions. It read more like a book designed to highlight the history but not the solutions. Another criticism along this line was the book could have used more anecdotes and more personal stories of success and failure. The writing was extremely dry and difficult to connect with as a reader.
“Milwaukee’s movement toward more choice was intended to give students equal educational opportunities. But while the choice of where to attend school is ostensibly vested in the students and their parents, the enrollment practices described here make one wonder who is doing the choosing.”
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
February 6, 2022
My children attended schools discussed in this book during the height of the time of the magnet schools. This discussed the process of the attempt to desegregate the Milwaukee schools and all the different difficulties with the various plans. I found this very interesting having lived through this period with my children. The book was published in 2015 so does not cover the present state of the school district. Very well researched.
March 26, 2019
An upsetting, if unsurprising, story. Only real knock is the writing gets bogged down at times.
May 1, 2016
Most schools, urban school in particular, face integration, school selections, and student achievement challenges. A social studies teacher, James Nelsen looks at how Milwaukee school systems developed from 1976 to 1995. He spins a tale of missteps, misspent funds, politics, and the impact of school choice on students. This is a well-research documented history or what was and hints at what may be, but if you are looking for one best system, this book does not provide one. If you looking to see what’s been tried and failed, this book is for you.
June 4, 2016
It's quite clear that the experiments have done nothing to improved Milwaukee's public schools, mostly harming too many students. The main indicator of educational success is socioeconomic status, but nothing is being done to raise that. Until then, all the experiments and vouchers and charters and magnet schools will do nothing overall for Milwaukee's children.
December 6, 2016
Nelson lays out a clear and thorough, yet concise, argument for the failure of school choice in Milwaukee in his extensively-researched book. Evoking more questions than offering answers, Educating Milwaukee is an important read for MPS teachers, but also for anyone interested in how public education could be affected by proponents of school choice, particularly in the upcoming four years.
Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews