
The Battle for Room 314
My Year of Hope and Despair in a New York City High School
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Narrated by:
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Ed Boland
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By:
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Ed Boland
In a fit of idealism, Ed Boland left a 20-year career as a non-profit executive to teach in a tough New York City public high school. But his hopes quickly collided headlong with the appalling reality of his students' lives and a hobbled education system unable to help them. Freddy runs a drug ring for his incarcerated brother; Nee-cole is homeschooled on the subway by her brilliant homeless mother; Byron's Ivy League dream is dashed because he is undocumented.
In the end, Boland isn't hoisted on his students' shoulders and no one passes AP anything. This is no urban fairy tale of at-risk kids saved by a Hollywood hero, but a searing indictment of schools that claim to be progressive but still fail their students.
Told with compassion, humor, and a keen eye, Boland's story is sure to ignite debate about the future of American education and attempts to reform it.
©2016 Ed Boland (P)2016 Hachette AudioListeners also enjoyed...




















Critic reviews
"In this insightfully honest and moving memoir about the realities of teaching in an inner-city school, Ed Boland "smashes the dangerous myth of the hero-teacher [and] shows us how high the stakes are for our most vulnerable students" (Piper Kerman, author of Orange is the New Black)
My only criticism of the recording itself is the strange music underlay for the very first and last minute of the narration. It's distracting, but don't let it deter you.
If you are really interested in this subject, I recommend that you read "Whatever it Takes," by Paul Tough first--this book provides a lot of background information about just how much poverty affects school aged children who live in inner city areas and how disadvantaged many are from birth because of the socioeconomic circumstances they are born in to.
Cheers!
Entertaining and Profound
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Pretty good until the end
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Where does The Battle for Room 314 rank among all the audiobooks you’ve listened to so far?
While not something I could listen to a second time, this was an enjoyable recounting of outlandish anecdotes from an equally-bizarre author. It was light, succinct, and a pleasant venture outside of my usual listening.Who was your favorite character and why?
The first-person narrative is read by the author himself. I went into this book expecting to relate more to the author and side with him against his students. Instead, the author is almost as surreal a stereotype as the unteachable inner-city minority kids. There seems to be little grounding for any character in this book. When I finally reconciled that the narrator was nearly as absurd as his subjects, I could finally relax a bit and enjoy the rest of his tale.Did the narration match the pace of the story?
The narrator is not particularly expressive, but did an alright job telling his story. I got a slight feeling that the author lost some of his enthusiasm as a result of reading his editor's revision, rather than his own stream of consciousness.Did you have an extreme reaction to this book? Did it make you laugh or cry?
Ed Boland left a high-paying sinecure as a fundraiser for minority scholarships to go on a quest for social justice and racial equality. He lasted one school year in the trenches before retreating back to his old job, receiving a raise for his troubles. He made no progress in saving the world.I imagined the epilogue would offer more of a personal catharsis for Mr. Boland. If the lessons are that such students are largely unteachable, that diversity does not lead to tolerance and harmony, and that resources are better spent elsewhere, then Mr. Boland learned nothing. He retreated to his bubble, gradually regaining his sanity, and renewed his beliefs that with more money and refined micromanagement, someday his do-gooder dream could be realized. He had forgotten the cause of his madness.I was disappointed with this ending, though not entirely surprised.Any additional comments?
This is certainly a unique tale and would be of interest to anyone with overlapping concerns about interracial relations, cultural norms, public schools, and the rest of the gamut.Fun series of anecdotes
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Thought-provoking
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poor performaning school grad turned engineer
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But... He managed to hit on all of the liberal talking points...everyone was homophobic in the early 80s...the military is looked down upon....2 wars that were unjustified and illegal. He did mention Obama hasn't done anything about poverty, but that is low hanging fruit. No president will handle that hot potato. The most egregious mistake was whitewashing the teachers union in ruining our education system. Each year they give about 90% of their money to liberal causes that has nothing to do with helping kids. In 2007 that was 80 million dollars. That would help a lot of kids.
Until we have politicians who really want change, and have the courage to make it happen, our education system in the US will continue to be broken.
Did you like the book? Yes But...
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nobody's perfect
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Not useful
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What would have made The Battle for Room 314 better?
Very boring.What could Ed Boland have done to make this a more enjoyable book for you?
Hard to believe it was read by the author.Who would you have cast as narrator instead of Ed Boland?
How did the book get published?What character would you cut from The Battle for Room 314?
all of themAny additional comments?
WASTE OF TIME.VERY very dry!
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