Co-signing @whstancil’s points...but this school also allegedly abused these kids, roughing them and making them kneel for hours “to teach them submission.”
it’s another example of how often the models at schools like this and “zero-tolerance” charters for Black kids really just look like formalized contempt.
People will countenance that abuse — actually praise it and call it *necessary* — if its targets are poor Black kids.
People will countenance that abuse — actually praise it and call it *necessary* — if its targets are poor Black kids.
Also, those “Black kids got into elite colleges!” viral videos and news stories have always been icky for this and other reasons
They are far too credulous, whether we’re talking about this school or Urban Prep in Chicago or wherever else
They are far too credulous, whether we’re talking about this school or Urban Prep in Chicago or wherever else
This detail: 
The kicker to this story is so unsettling. OMG.
Cory Turner and Kavitha Cardoza, reported for us on a DC school w/ a novel approach to teaching Black boys. They spent *months* talking to students, teachers, and parents. And their reporting had a VERY diff tone than the uniformly glowing press coverage the school got.
It was more nuanced and critical. A lot of people at the school weren’t happy about. A lot of people who wanted the school to win weren’t happy about it. The reporting was just clear-eyed: the school was falling short on the standards and aspirations it publicly set for itself.
But on the school’s media page, there were links to glowing articles by other reporters who came for a few hours, talked to a few students selected by the principal who said the right things, and left to file their stories. That’s the kind of coverage the school was used to.
That’s the kind of coverage these “miracle” schools get, bc ppl want to believe they can be a silver bullet to fix systemic racism. Cory and Kavitha made this point several times in their pieces: people want these schools to offset the momentum of American history. They can’t.
