Joanne Jacobs, whose eponymous blog is among the most dominant in the edusphere, pens a flattering review of David Whitman's recent book in the current issue of City Journal.
"Nagging is love," I used to tell my daughter. "I am a much-loved child," she'd reply. And so it is: if you care about a kid, you tell her what she's doing right and what she's doing wrong. You stick with her when she makes mistakes. You honor her successes. You nag. In Sweating the Small Stuff: Inner-City Schools and the New Paternalism, David Whitman finds that idea replicated in education. To give disadvantaged students a shot at college and mainstream success, he argues, schools must teach "not just how to think but how to act according to what are commonly termed traditional middle-class values."
Jay Mathews may have decided to call these "No Excuses" schools, but may I suggest "No Excuses Nags" as a slight improvement?
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Jay Mathews
