Paul Tough: Whatever It Takes

The New York Times reviews Whatever It Takes:

When it comes to an introduction to the debate about poverty and parenting in urban America, you could hardly do better than Tough’s book. The children of the uneducated and impoverished too often bear a gloomy inheritance, their futures set in stone from an early age. Within Canada’s 97 blocks, Tough finds a different kind of legacy — one shaped by parents who have learned to pay attention to their children’s developmental needs. With a support network unlike anything else in America, the children of Harlem can envision a future so many others expect as a matter of course.

Here’s video of the speech I mentioned in today’s Times Magazine article, the speech in which Barack Obama explains his plans to replicate the Harlem Children’s Zone in 20 cities across the country. Text here.

I’ve got an article in today’s New York Times Magazine about Geoffrey Canada and Barack Obama and the education schism inside the Democratic Party.