And Still We Rise (Post #2 pgs. 1-133)

The stories of several urban youths are detailed in Miles Corwin's book And Still We Rise. The book chronicles the lives of seniors who attend Crenshaw High School, and are in the schools gifted program. While Corwin expresses how the students do exceptionally well in school, he also notes how everyday can be a struggle for all of them to even get out of bed. In his first chapters, Corwin describes the lives of these teenagers who live in South Central, Los Angeles and have all faced, and even continue to face, some rough experiences. He details how some of them work forty plus hours a week to provide for themselves and their families, how some of these young people have been abused as children and have been tossed around from foster home to group home and so on, and he tells of how some of them simple find it hard to return to school after seeing so many disappointments from the people around them. With the use of anecdotes given from the students themselves, facts about the issues that surround these students, and even writing from the students Corwin is able to excellently tell the stories of these students whose only solace can be the classrooms in which they study AP English, AP Government, and even auto mechanics. Corwin uses great specificity in his accounts as he describes the lives of these youths in the first of his chapters. In one of his chapters, Corwin describes the life an exceptionally gifted student named Olivia. In the introduction of his book Corwin tells of how Olivia was beaten abused by her mother as a child, and how she was able to run away only to be tossed around in foster home after foster home. Olivia was able to support for herself as a young teen by selling candy bars and fire safety equipment. From this point and on, Corwin describes Olivia's story and countless other gifted teenagers at Crenshaw High who have struggled so much throughout their lives, but have had great successes in the classroom.

Discussion Questions:
Clarification: Was it Venola or Toya who had come from a small town to South Central to escape from an abusive father?
Application: Corwin mentions Prop 209, which banned affirmative action in California, in his book. How has this decision impacted the lives of minorities since its passing, and what will its effects be in the future?