From the publisher:

Everyone from Bono to the United Nations is looking for a miracle to bring schooling within reach of the poorest children on Earth. James Tooley found one hiding in plain sight.

While researching private schools in India for the World Bank, and worried he was doing little to help the poor, Tooley wandered into the slums of Hyderabad's Old City. Shocked to find it overflowing with tiny, parentfunded schools filled with energized students, he set out to discover if schools like these could help achieve universal education.

Named after Mahatma Gandhi's phrase for the schools of pre-colonial India, The Beautiful Tree recounts Tooley's journey from the largest shanty town in Africa to the hinterlands of Gansu, China. It introduces readers to the families and teachers who taught him that the poor are not waiting for educational handouts. They are building their own schools and educating themselves.

The cost of private schools
The World's Katy Clark speaks with Prof. James Tooley about why poor parents are choosing to send their children to private schools over free government school and the fees that the private schools charge.

Impact of private schools
Katy and Mr. Tooley discuss the impact private school education is having on the quality of education the children receive and how these schools get started.

What's wrong with public schools?
Tooley talks about the challenges of sending children to government run schools in the developing world.

Impact of private schools
James Tooley describes how governments and the private sector are responding to the growing private school movement.

Low cost of private schools in the developed world
Tooley speaks about how poorer communities in the developed world are also organizing their own schools.

How Tooley learned about private schools
James Tooley talks about how he first learned about the growing trend of low cost private schools in poor communities of the developed world.