Visiting Scholar Peter Sacks

Award-winning writer and teacher Peter Sacks will discuss the growing divide between the rich and poor in America during his lecture "Tearing Down the Gates: Confronting the Class Divide in American Education" for the Rockhurst University Visiting Scholar Lecture Series, 7:30 p.m. Wednesday, Feb. 22, in Mabee Theater. 

The lecture will be based on his award-winning 2009 book of the same title. In the book, Sacks locates the source of this class division in our schools, colleges and universities, contending that they have exacerbated inequality by providing ample opportunities for advantaged students while shutting the gates on the poor and middle class.

As a social critic, Sacks has turned his gaze toward a broad range of issues that impact higher education. These issues range from the misplaced focus on SAT scores, to the failures of contemporary college curriculum, to the flawed incentive system for accessing good teaching, to the impact of the No Child Left Behind Act.

Sacks is also the author of Standardized Minds: The High Price of America’s Testing Culture and What We Can Do to Change It and Generation X Goes to College: An Eye-Opening Account of Teaching in Postmodern America. His articles and essays have appeared in The Nation, The New York Times, The Chronicle of Higher Education, mindingthecampus.com, and Education Week. He speaks frequently about education and social justice.

Sacks’ talk is presented as the annual Alpha Sigma Nu lecture, and is free of charge and open to the public. To register your attendance, call 816-501-4828. Mabee Theater is located in Sedgwick Hall on the Rockhurst University campus, 54th Street and Troost Avenue.