The Fire Within by Joe David

The Fire Within
Joe David
Alexandria, Va: Books for All Times
Copyright 1981
ISBN 9780939360017
245 pages

The binding is in good condition, the pages are clean but slightly musty and one page is highlighted. The cover is toned, has some light creasing and edge wear and a price sticker on the back.  Good. Paperback.

Violence-ridden Church Junior High School is the setting for Joe David's hard look into the world of "education," a world filled with hatred and deception, boredom and indoctrination - financially supported by government decree!

The central character is Anne Harte, an idealist who tries to teach by igniting the fire within of knowledge. Unlike teachers who indoctrinate, Anne attempts to teach her students to think. Her commitment to reason, however, place her in direct conflict with the system and those who control it, especially Loretta Daniels, her principal. Unlike Anne, Loretta believes that children must "satisfy their needs, their instincts and impulses by action."

What results is an incisive look at "education" with Loretta and Anne fighting for the survival of their diametrically opposed philosophies. Caught up in the battle are the other teachers, and the real victims, the students!   (#07)