George Will, the nation's most widely syndicated columnist, weighs in today on Inner-City Schools and the New Paternalism. And yes, he does think "paternalistic" is an apt descriptor for these "no excuses" schools (unlike Jay Mathews, Richard Whitmire, and others):
Paternalism is the restriction of freedom for the good of the person restricted. [The American Indian Public Charter School] (AIPCS) acts in loco parentis because [principal Ben] Chavis, who is cool toward parental involvement, wants an enveloping school culture that combats the culture of poverty and the streets.He and other practitioners of the new paternalism--once upon a time, schooling was understood as democracy's permissible, indeed obligatory, paternalism--are proving that cultural pessimists are mistaken: We know how to close the achievement gap that often separates minorities from whites before kindergarten and widens through high school. A growing cohort of people possess the pedagogic skills to make "no excuses" schools flourish.
Unfortunately, powerful factions fiercely oppose the flourishing. Among them are education schools with their romantic progressivism--teachers should be mere "enablers" of group learning; self-esteem is a prerequisite for accomplishment, not a consequence thereof. Other opponents are the teachers unions and their handmaiden, the Democratic Party. Today's liberals favor paternalism--you cannot eat trans fats; you must buy health insurance--for everyone except children. Odd.
