David Whitman, fresh off of being honored by the American Independent Writers, has now done an interview with EducationNews.org about his book, Sweating the Small Stuff: Inner-City Schools and the New Paternalism. EdNews Senior Columnist Michael Shaughnessy asks David, among other things, why he wrote the book, why it has had broad-based appeal, and what paternalism has to do with education. Here's a snippet of David describing the schools that he examined and wrote about:
When you spent time in the schools I studied, you couldn't help but be struck by the fact that they were highly-prescriptive institutions???they meticulously supervised student behavior. They were not just academically demanding schools but schools that sought to relentlessly shape the character of their students. But I do want to be clear about one thing: The new paternalism works only when it is combined with intense caring and commitment--it is not just about the supervision of students. The students have to know that their teachers and principals care deeply about them and their future.
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