Schooled

by Anisha Lakhani

Book Overview

In this captivating coming-of-age story, a once underpaid teacher is swept into the glittering world of Manhattan private schools--where shopping sprees are endless and morality is optional.

"You're making how much an hour"
"Two hundred dollars."
"Do you ride in on a pony"

All she wants to do is teach. For Anna Taggert, an earnest Ivy League graduate, pursuing her passion as a teacher means engaging young hearts and...

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1401309968
• ISBN13: 9781401309961
• Release Date: August 2009
• Publisher: Hachette Books
• Length: 368 Pages
• Weight: 0.70 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.0" x 5.2" x 8.1"
• Age Range: 18 years and up
• Grade Range: Postsecondary and higher

Customer Reviews

great read

Schooled was a great read. It was fun and charming. I wish the author would write another book !!!

Hilarious Debut!

Anna Taggart, recent Colombia grad, is thrilled when she lands a job at an elite private school. Her parents are less than thrilled; they don't understand how she can just waste all the money they put toward her Ivy-league education and become..a teacher. Teaching is her passion and she can't wait to dive in. Until she notices that the work handed in by her students isn't their own. The majority of her students have high-priced tutors that are doing the work for them! Anna, desperately broke, gets sucked into "the dark side" and becomes a tutor after school hours. She quickly begins earning more money than she would ever have made as a teacher. She moves to a pricey "doorman" apartment, goes on shopping expeditions every weekend. The life she always thought she wanted. Until she begins tutoring a young girl that wants a "real" tutor, not someone to do her assignments for her. Anna soon learns that money isn't everything and remembers why she decided to become a teacher--to teach! SCHOOLED is a hilarious debut novel with a view of the private schools and tutoring that could only be written by someone that has knows it personally.

Fun, fast, chick lit page turner!

Anna Taggert, an idealistic and academically well-prepared new teacher at an elite private school in Manhattan is in for an eye-opening education of her own. Yes, she's prepared to teach. No, the school is not prepared to actually let her teach -- not if it means disrupting the social lives of spoiled Prada-wearing tweens used to a faculty trained to keep the darlings of donors happy. Armed with beautifully devised lessons, our heroine is dismayed to learn that the parents and the principal are dead-set against anything academically inconvenient for these mini-socialites. Real homework brings on a deluge of angry calls of protest to Anna and the principal. A petition seeming to threaten her employment also made the actual policy quite evident, despite claims to the contrary. And, for all of this frustration, she is also paid a salary that might be lower than the average allowance of her students. She can't pay the rent on the lousy apartment provided by the school and eat at the same time. (One teacher suggests that she learn to sneak out food from the cafeteria so she can actually eat dinner!) But Anna soon becomes aware of other teachers who mysteriously can eat, live in much better apartments, and do it all in clothes good enough for the students. The mystery is solved one afternoon over coffee (a coffee she can barely afford, by the way.) She stumbles upon a fellow teacher with one of her pupils, obviously at work on a homework assignment! To me, the scene was a hilarious revelation, like a wife finding her husband cheating on her with a co-worker. Ultimately, Anna becomes a part of this allegedly secret world of tutoring, and at first I was rooting for her all the way! Why should she starve? The deck is stacked against her. If she actually teaches, she's under attack! If she plays the game, everyone is happy and she's living the high-life. What could possibly go wrong? Of course, there would be no story if there wasn't some crisis of conscience. And the author has given readers a very satisfying one, indeed. Schooled is one of the best examples of chick lit that I've come across in quite some time. Of course, the author's first-hand knowledge of the goings-on at pricey private schools in Manhattan made it even juicier for me. It also explained to me, personally, something I've wondered about for many years. A friend of mine taught at one of those schools some time ago. I went to meet him one day after class. For some reason, a parent came up to me, introduced herself, and asked if I would send her my resume. Wow! Almost ten years later I found out that I, too, could be wearing Prada! Thank you, Anisha Lakhani! Schooled was one of the most fun, fast and satisfying reads I've enjoyed in some time. I can't wait to read more from this new author. Without question, it would make a fabulous film! I loved this book!

NOT your average chick lit

This is the book I've been waiting to read for years, since Devil Wears Prada and Nanny Diaries. It's definitely in the tradition of those two books, with a little Shopaholic thrown in, but is better written than Devil Wears Prada and Nanny Diaries. Also, it avoids most of the horrible chick lit cliches, like slutty BFF's and bad dates, and the voice of the main character is not annoyingly chatty, obviously sarcastic, or full of "likes" and "totally's" as in many recent chick lit novels. As the novel begins, Anna Taggart has just graduated from Columbia and, for reasons no one can understand, decides to become a teacher. A low-paid, poorly-dressed teacher in a private school where the students carry Chanel bags and the mothers are typical skinny-minny Manhattanites covered in designer labels that cost more than what a teacher makes in a year. Nevertheless, Anna is full of enthusiasm for teaching, which is then squashed over the course of the book as she becomes familiar with, and then immersed in the elite culture of Manhattan's wealthiest families. Anna discovers some shocking truths about her privileged students and their families - truths that undermine the foundations of the educational system. She discovers that everything in education is for sale, and soon turns it to her advantage by selling her services as a tutor - one who essentially does her students' work. She begins wearing designer clothes and moves out of her fifth floor walk-up and into an exclusive building that makes even her investment banker best friend jealous. Eventually Anna is forced to confront her ambivalence toward her lifestyle, and must choose between her dedication to teaching and her newfound wealth. What made this book stand out most was the slightly satirical, yet accurate glimpse into the world of education - where impressive-sounding rhetoric often replaces good teaching and common sense - and likewise the fascinating descriptions of over-the-top lifestyles of wealthy students (i.e. a "faux mitzvah" involving a Charlie and the Chocolate Factory theme with a chocolate river and Oompa Loompas). I highly recommend this book. I read it in about three days, and had to really make an effort not to finish it faster.

Juicy, funny, satisfying... a DESERVED A+!

I just finished Schooled by Anisha Lakhani & am happy to report that I was pleasantly surprised by how entertaining, funny, and delectable it was. Essentially, the book is about a Columbia graduate (the author's graduate college as well) named Anna who goes on to teach at a private school in Manhattan (which the author did as well.) Anna starts out as a well meaning enthusiastic teacher, but quickly gets sucked into the private school world of backstabbing, hush-hush grades, cover-ups, and most importantly, 'tutoring', (which here in Manhattan, is loosely interpreted). The book is fun and quick without being TOO easy to read. I can't help but feel as though I'm reading something similar to 'The Washingtonienne'. Not in regards to the writing style and certainly not the subject matter, but the whole 'author went through this exact situation and is definitely going to write about this undoubtedly juicy subject'. Again, this is heads above the aforementioned 'Washingtonienne' but I just got the feeling this is pretty close to being an autobiography of sorts! I thoroughly enjoyed it and definitely recommend it as a satisfying summer read, especially if you're a teacher! If you're not a teacher, you'll enjoy getting a glimpse into the seedy underbelly that is teaching private school in Manhattan.