"What is at stake when some American children go to school hungry and others go to school in $1,000 Bugaboo strollers? Class War argues that under free-market capitalism, life paths prescribed by class but framed as parental choices--public or private, gifted & talented, general or special education--segregate American children from birth through adolescence, and into adulthood, as never before. In an age of austerity, an elite class of corporate education reformers has found new ways to transfer the costs of raising children to families. Although public schools are tasked with providing childcare, job training, meals and social services for low-income children, their funding is being drastically cut; meanwhile, private schools promise to nurture well-rounded individuals for families able to afford the $40,000 a year tuition. Drawing from Erickson's own experience as a teacher in the New York City school system, Class War shows how education has been transformed into a competitive "hunger games for the resources and social connections required for economic success.""--