A YEAR IN THE TRENCHES A Teacher's Journal By JACQUELINE GOLDWYN KINGON A new teacher recounts her year at a New York City failing school, where clocks never tick, the mantra is 'cover yourself' and students teeter on the ledge.

FEATURES More Ado (Yawn) About Great Books By EMILY EAKIN With Toni Morrison edging out dead white men, conservative scholars have resumed their fight to save the classics. Who's Hot Out of Contextualism Great Expectations By CATHERINE HAUSMAN and VICTORIA GOLDMAN For bright young illegal immigrants, a dream of college is at best uncertain. The Reluctant Feminist By KATE ZERNIKE Nancy Hopkins shunned warnings that science was a man's world. Then she counted the women on M.I.T.'s faculty. Now she leads a movement that could change the face of science education. DEPARTMENTS College Prep By GLENN C. ALTSCHULER Studying abroad, for all the right reasons. Books By KATE ZERNIKE A 10-year study reveals how to have a better college experience. Book Briefs By JODI WILGOREN On Teach for America and charter schools. Student Life By RANDAL C. ARCHIBOLD Do special zones for protests limit free speech? A Food Fight Over Private Prisons View By KENNETH A. SHAW and DAN A. BLACK Why college costs so much and will only get worse. Endpaper By JOSEPH BERGER A young refugee and his mother find the American way through a school play.

BLACKBOARD Yearbooks That Speak Volumes By DANIELLE SVETCOV Cafeteria-Free Dining and Keep It Clean By DAVIDSON GOLDIN and DAN CUFF Zen and the Liberal Arts By ANDREA ADELSON For the Littlest Saxophonist By SOL HURWITZ In Diplomacy School, Foreign Faces By NINA SIEGAL Just Sitting Around Thinking, or Not By ERIC GOLDSCHEIDER Dancing With Critics By SCOTT SPILKY COLLEGE TIMES College news and resources. EDUCATION FORUMS Issues in Education Join new discussions on teaching techniques, technology in the classroom, and other pressing topics in education today. ON THE COVER: Illustration by Steve Keller for The New York Times Not published on the Web site: Advertiser Index Pop Quiz

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