It Takes a School
The Extraordinary Story of an American School in the World’s #1 Failed State
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Narrated by:
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Malcolm Hillgartner
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By:
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Jonathan Starr
About this listen
This is a story of David and Goliath proportions, how an American hedge fund manager created a unique school in Somaliland whose students, against all odds, have come to achieve success beyond anyone's wildest dreams.
Jonathan Starr is not your traditional do-gooder, and in 2009, when he decided to found Abaarso, a secondary school in Somaliland, the choice seemed crazy to even his closest friends. Why, they wondered, would he turn down a life of relative luxury to relocate to an armed compound in a breakaway region of the world's number one failed state? To achieve his mission, Starr would have to overcome profound cultural differences, broken promises, and threats to his safety and that of his staff. It Takes a School is the story of how an abstract vision became a transformative reality, as Starr set out to build a school in a place forgotten by the world. It is the story of a skeptical and clan-based society learning to give way to trust. And it is the story of the students themselves, including a boy from a family of nomads who took off on his own in search of an education and a girl who waged a hunger strike in order to convince her strict parents to send her to Abaarso.
Abaarso has placed 40 graduates and counting in American universities, from Harvard to MIT, and sends Somaliland a clear message: its children can compete with anyone in the world. Now the initial question Starr was asked demands another: "If such a success can happen in an unrecognized breakaway region of Somalia, can it not happen anywhere?"
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- Length: 8 hrs and 28 mins
- Unabridged
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When Mark Zuckerberg announced in front of a cheering Oprah audience his $100 million pledge to transform the Newark Schools - and to solve the education crisis in every city in America - it looked like a huge win for then-mayor Cory Booker and governor Chris Christie. But their plans soon ran into a constituency not so easily moved - Newark's key education players, fiercely protective of their billion-dollar-per-annum system.
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Well-researched - Provides Good Answers
- By Denyse on 01-11-16
By: Dale Russakoff
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Against the Grain
- A Coach's Wisdom on Character, Faith, Family, and Love
- By: Bill Courtney
- Narrated by: Bill Courtney
- Length: 6 hrs and 33 mins
- Unabridged
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In Against the Grain, Bill Courtney shares his convictions on the fundamental tenets of character, commitment, service, leadership, civility, and others that, in his decades of success as an entrepreneur and educator, have proven to be the keys to a winning and meaningful life and career.
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An amazing man
- By Richard Langel on 03-04-24
By: Bill Courtney
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Letters to a Young Teacher
- By: Jonathan Kozol
- Narrated by: David Drummond
- Length: 5 hrs and 36 mins
- Unabridged
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In these affectionate letters to Francesca, a first-grade teacher at an inner-city school in Boston, Jonathan Kozol vividly describes his repeated visits to her classroom while, under Francesca's likably irreverent questioning, also revealing his own most personal stories of the years that he has spent in public schools.
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A must read for new teachers
- By Santiago on 03-31-10
By: Jonathan Kozol
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How to Be Black
- By: Baratunde Thurston
- Narrated by: Baratunde Thurston
- Length: 6 hrs and 27 mins
- Unabridged
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Beyond memoir, this guidebook offers practical advice on everything from "How to Be the Black Friend" to "How to Be the (Next) Black President" to "How to Celebrate Black History Month". This is a humorous, intelligent, and audacious guide that challenges and satirizes the so-called experts, purists, and racists who purport to speak for all Black people. With honest storytelling and biting wit, Baratunde plots a path not just to blackness, but one open to anyone interested in simply "how to be".
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Funny yet insightful!
- By Theodore on 02-15-12
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Fully Alive
- Discovering What Matters Most
- By: Timothy Shriver
- Narrated by: David Drummond
- Length: 10 hrs and 53 mins
- Unabridged
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At a time when we are all more rudderless than ever, we look for the very best teachers and mentors to guide us. In Fully Alive, an unusual and gripping memoir, Timothy Shriver shows how his teachers have been the world's most forgotten minority: people with intellectual disabilities. In these pages we meet the individuals who helped him come of age and find a deeper and more meaningful way to see the world.
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Eye opening book
- By Robert J. Herman on 06-05-15
By: Timothy Shriver
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We Are Our Mothers' Daughters
- Revised and Expanded Edition
- By: Cokie Roberts
- Narrated by: Cokie Roberts
- Length: 7 hrs and 43 mins
- Unabridged
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In this 10th anniversary edition, renowned political commentator Cokie Roberts once again examines the nature of women's roles. From mother to mechanic, sister to soldier, Roberts reveals how much progress has now been made and how much further we have to go. Updated and expanded to include a diverse new cast of women, including Hillary Clinton, Laura Bush, Billie Jean King, and others, this collection of essays offers tremendous insight into the opportunities and challenges that women encounter today.
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A must read or “listen” for all women and girls!!
- By monica on 09-30-19
By: Cokie Roberts
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A Mighty Long Way
- My Journey to Justice at Little Rock Central High School
- By: Carlotta Walls LaNier, Lisa Frazier Page, Bill Clinton - foreword
- Narrated by: Carlotta Walls LaNier
- Length: 12 hrs and 11 mins
- Unabridged
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When 14-year-old Carlotta Walls walked up the stairs of Little Rock Central High School on September 25, 1957, she and eight other Black students only wanted to make it to class. But the journey of the “Little Rock Nine”, as they came to be known, would lead the nation on an even longer and much more turbulent path, one that would challenge prevailing attitudes, break down barriers, and forever change the landscape of America.
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Disappointing
- By SWF in Minneapolis on 04-27-24
By: Carlotta Walls LaNier, and others
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The Formula
- Unlocking the Secrets to Raising Highly Successful Children
- By: Ronald F. Ferguson, Tatsha Robertson
- Narrated by: Cynthia Farrell
- Length: 10 hrs and 4 mins
- Unabridged
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In The Formula: Unlocking the Secrets to Raising Highly Successful Children, Harvard economist Ronald Ferguson, named in a New York Times profile as the foremost expert on the US educational "achievement gap," along with award-winning journalist Tatsha Robertson, reveal an intriguing blueprint for helping children from all types of backgrounds become successful adults.
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would recommend
- By Marcia on 02-25-20
By: Ronald F. Ferguson, and others
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Just Like Us
- The True Story of Four Mexican Girls Coming of Age in America
- By: Helen Thorpe
- Narrated by: Paula Christensen
- Length: 15 hrs and 18 mins
- Unabridged
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Just Like Us tells the story of four high school students whose parents entered this country illegally from Mexico. All four of the girls have grown up in the United States, and all four want to live the American dream, but only two have documents. As the girls attempt to make it into college, they discover that only the legal pair see a clear path forward. A coming-of-age story about girlhood and friendship, as well as the resilience required to transcend poverty, Just Like Us is also a book about identity.
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I wanted to listen but...
- By PurpleSage on 03-22-14
By: Helen Thorpe
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Wait, What?
- And Life's Other Essential Questions
- By: James E. Ryan
- Narrated by: James E. Ryan
- Length: 2 hrs and 49 mins
- Unabridged
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In his commencement address to the graduating class of 2016, James E. Ryan, dean of the Harvard University Graduate School of Education, offered remarkable advice to the crowd of hopeful men and women eager to make their marks on the world. The key to achieving emotional connections and social progress, he told them, can be found in five essential questions.
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Great For Our Jobs, Our Families, Our Lives!
- By Gillian on 05-18-18
By: James E. Ryan
What listeners say about It Takes a School
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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- Colin B.
- 02-08-17
An incredible story about an incredible school
Couldn't put this one down -- listened to it all in one day. Starr has written an honest and heart-warming tale about the trials and tribulations he had to endure to start a boarding school in far-flung Somaliland. The author does a great job describing his motivations, the challenges he faced, and the remarkable children who would go on to do great things because his Abaarso School existed and persisted against all odds. I found it a very well-paced book that is interesting throughout, plus the narration is great. The narrator even did a pretty great job of getting all the af-Soomaali pronunciations correct. Best of luck to all of Abaarso's kids: the future of Somaliland is in great hands.
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- tony
- 09-20-22
enjoyed
kept my attention. I could not listen to the next chapter fast enough. I want to know more about Abraso and other schools like it.
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- Kindle Customer
- 07-03-17
Terrific book
Highly recommended for anyone interested in educational issues, and especially the in the education of an otherwise forgotten group of students. It sounds like this school is doing truly remarkable work.
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- Lisa G. Weiss
- 02-11-17
Awesome story. Well-read.
Really interesting and inspirational story! It's not often you hear about finance people doing good things to change the world... with their own money!
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