Another Planet

With a novelist's eye Elinor Burkett takes readers behind the school system's closed doors revealing a world of mixed messages manufactured myths and political hype.<p>In the wake of school shootings across the country one question haunted America: What is going wrong inside our nation's schools? To find out award-winning journalist Elinor Burkett spent nine months -- from the opening pep rally to graduation day -- in a suburban Minneapolis high school. She attended classes hung out with students listened to parents and joined teachers on the front lines. <p>She soon discovered that post-Columbine fears about loners and misfits Smoker's New Year (a pot holiday) Zero Tolerance policies and school lockdowns have become as much a part of a teen's high school experience as dating and Clearasil. But Burkett goes even deeper and makes some startling conclusions in this poignant exposé of the real problems facing educators parents and the children they try to teach.</p>