Stories from the Educational Underground: The New Frontier for Learning and Work

Once again, Peter Smith has redefined the boundaries of the public conversation about access to education, justice, and opportunity in America. Drawing on his 50 years of experience in higher education and the powerful life stories of more than 20 adults, Smith has described a new frontier at the intersection of experiential learning, college and career. And his message is as simple as it is powerful: The Covid-19 pandemic has brought America to a crossroads, a time when the needed radical reconstruction of the opportunity ladder in higher education is recognized and attainable. He argues that we are at an inflection point where we can and must end systemic discrimination in education after high school by creating a universally accessible post-secondary education eco-system for lifelong learning and work.

Looking through the eyes of a diverse array of adult learners, Smith makes the case for the economic, social, civic, and cultural value of all learning and all knowledge, regardless of where or how it was gained. And, in doing so, he shines a spotlight on an untapped American resource: the extraordinary talent and intelligence, the human capacity and potential that is currently ignored by the traditional college model. Smith argues compellingly that this knowledge discrimination hurts not only the millions of individuals whose learning is denied and whose futures are compromised, but also the society at large. Everyone - educators, employers, political leaders and policy-makers at the state and federal levels, and the general public - needs to read this book because it wraps policy, practice, personal growth, economic security, and social justice into a compelling DNA.

View the press release from Peter Smith’s school here.