Top Bloomberg education adviser Christopher Cerf writes in to say “great stuff” about this post, which I choose to interpret as an ironclad confirmation that the Mayor has indeed thrown his hat into the Eduwonk naming contest.
The Mayor, who was tied up yesterday bolting another windmill to the roof of Tweed Courthouse, lacked time to improve on his “right idea for the time” entry, but Cerf offered up his own: No Excuses Charters. “The basic premise is that if you go to school here, you will succeed and go to college–and that is your responsibility as well as ours to make sure that happen.”
Well, No Excuses has been around a bit. It’s ok; sounds kind of diet-like to me. (Not that I have anything against diet stories! They pay more bills than my editorials.) In today’s WPost column about Sweating the Small Stuff, the book that contains the somewhat objectionable “new paternalism” subtitle that sparked this debate, George Will seems to vote for retaining the paternalism moniker. Isn’t that so like George Will to embrace paternalism?
Meanwhile, Eduwonk readers have been squandering company time working hard to suggest their own offerings. Beyond those already served up we now have:
- (Hard) Core Knowledge Schools
- Influential Charter Schools
- Transformational Charter Schools
- Success-Driven Schools
- A + B = C Schools (Achievement + Bright ideas = Charter Schools)
- Aspire Higher Charters
- Aspire Charters
- Endeavor Schools
- Striver Schools
- Quest Schools
- Chasing Excellence Charters
- Relentless Schools
- Successful Schools
Ok folks, one more round. Email me here.
–Guest blogger Richard Whitmire