About my earlier post, commenter Carol writes:

Liam, you had me all the way until the end when you failed to mention students culpability (as well as teachers and admins) when it comes to academic achievement.

It’s a good point; older students bear significant responsibility for their educations. But the larger idea is that simply moving people into a new “culture” doesn’t necessarily change their attitudes or behaviors and won’t cultivate that responsibility. Proactivity and vigilance is imperative. The best charter schools, as is always noted, succeed because they push a rigorous academic culture on their students (no matter who are those student or what color is their skin, etc.) and they brook no dissent. A forthcoming Fordham report argues that such paternalism is, in fact, necessary. I oversimplified all that by writing that schools with “good” teachers succeed, and those with “bad” teachers fail–but reduced to its basic form, it’s true.

Related posts:

1. Duncan on turnarounds
2. How to help parents seize this “new era of responsibility”
3. What does Obama’s “Era of Responsibility” mean for education?