Literacy with an Attitude

Patrick J. Finn is Associate Professor Emeritus of Education at the University at Buffalo, State University of New York. Finn was named the Robert F. and Augusta Finkelstein Memorial Lecturer for Fall 2008 at Adelphi University. He is the coeditor (with Mary E. Finn) of Teacher Education with an Attitude: Preparing Teachers to Educate Working-Class Students in Their Collective Self-Interest, also published by SUNY Press.

• Preface to the Second EditionPreface to the First Edition1. Title, Author, and Hard-Bitten Schoolteachers2. A Distinctly Un-American Idea: An Education Appropriate to Their Station3. Harsh Schools, Big Boys, and the Progressive Solution4. Oppositional Identity: Identifying "Us" as "Not Them"5. The Lads6. Changing Conditions—Entrenched Schools7. Class, Control, Language, and Literacy8. Where Literacy "Emerges"9. Where Children Are Taught to Sit Still and Listen10. The Last Straw: There’s Literacy, and Then There’s Literacy11. Literacy with an Attitude12. Not Quite Making Literacy Dangerous Again13. Schools and a Square Deal for Working People14. Citizens’ Rights vs. Social Class and a Free-Market Economy: Acknowledging Conflict and Seeking Equity15. Twentieth- and Twenty-First Century Heirs to the Corresponding Societies and a New Paradigm for Educating Working-Class Students16. Teachers Who Agitate: Freirean Motivation in the Classroom17. Agitating Students and Students Who Agitate18. Agitating Parents and Parents Who Agitate19. Scaling Agitation Upward20. Important Concepts and a Few Lines from Les MiserablesNotesBibliographyIndex

"…provides a review of the best sociology that describes all of the aspects of the stratification of schools … The book is an indispensible source of ideas." — International Socialist Review"…this second edition provides a thoughtful analysis of how to change what many recognize as a two-tiered school system that underserves the economically disadvantaged." — CHOICEPraise for the First Edition"Finn's writing is so personal, passionate, urgent, and he was speaking, not writing, it seemed, directly to me … I strongly recommend this book to anyone who is concerned about the failure of schools to educate all our citizens into a powerful democratic discourse." — John M. Watkins, Anthropology and Education Quarterly"Finn's approach is creative and effective … [The book] is … very important and deserves to be read by teachers … by parents, and by concerned citizens." — LACMF, Literacy across the CurriculuMedia Focus"This book makes the reader think. It presents a clear account of the history of literacy which on the surface is familiar; however, the author's ability to define, compare, and contrast empowering education/powerful literacy reframes issues and challenges all complacency. His argument for teaching literacy with an attitude is compelling. It demands evaluation of the status quo and commitment to rethinking schools, literacy definitions, and instructional procedures for children as well as training for preservice and inservice teachers. It suggests productive areas of research that could contribute further understanding of the issues. And, it makes a reader think: What if?" — Mary Anne Doyle, University of Connecticut