The inspiration: 
“To educate as the practice of freedom is a way of teaching that anyone can learn. That learning process comes easiest  to those of us who teach who also believe that there is an aspect of our vocation that is sacred; who believe that our work  is not merely to share information but to share in the intellectual and spiritual growth of our students. To teach in a manner that respects and cares for the souls of our students is essential if we are to provide the necessary conditions where learning can most deeply and intimately begin.”

~ bell hooks, Teaching to Transgress. Education as the Practice of Freedom. London: Routledge 1994: 13

“Higher education often forgets that Maslow comes before Bloom, and that students are humans first. These ideas, central to the #RealCollege movement, are centered in Robin Isserles's new book, which deepens our understandings and in turn our efforts to support the whole community college student. Every edu-reformer should pause and read this book.”

— Sara Goldrick-Rab, President/Founder, Hope Center for College, Community, and Justice

“Robin Isserles offers a sociological perspective of community college through the lens of a scholar and practitioner who has been engaged in these contexts for decades. Full of rich data and insider insights from different angles, this book is a much-needed examination of power dynamics related to community colleges as well as the narratives surrounding students and teachers.”

— Lori Ann Noll, Associate Director, Urban Teaching Residency, University of Pennsylvania

“This book does a wonderful job of unlocking the complex web of reforms, actors, and initiatives that aim to help community college students complete college.”

— Richard Anthony Baker, Executive Director for Institutional Equity, EO/AA and Title IX Coordinator, Rice University

Continued inspiration… “Equally troubling, we conceive of academic achievement in insular ways, measuring it— and thus for all practical purposes defining it— through reductive indicators, like scores on standardized tests that miss so much, from insight and intellectual excitement to social awareness and ethical engagement”. (Mike Rose 2023: 123 )

Professor. Sociologist. Writer.

Robin G. Isserles