Jay Mathews of the Washington Post has decided that “No Excuses Schools” is a better moniker than “New Paternalism.” You may recall, Mathews had issues with the title of David Whitman’s new book, Sweating the Small Stuff, about KIPP, et al., praising the author’s work and the schools profiled in his book. But he found the subtitle, “Inner-City Schools and the New Paternalism,” off-putting and a PR disaster. So he invited his legion of readers to come up with a better name.
Uncle Jay was kind enough to cite my objection in his column, but my point remains: if we want to move the agenda forward for kids, we need to focus on the practices that make those schools successful. If that means acting in loco parentis–or as a loco parent–so be it. Whatever it takes. Also as Corey Bower points out, “No Excuses Schools” implies the reason most schools are struggling “is because they’re making excuses, or allowing kids to make excuses.” It ain’t necessarily so.
Hmmm. How about “ILP Schools?”
