Work Hard. Be Nice.
When Mike Feinberg and Dave Levin signed up for Teach for America shortly after graduation and discovered that they were complete failures in the classroom, they determined to reinvent themselves as better instructors. They accomplished all of this and more. They created a wildly successful fifth-grade experience in their early twenties, by sheer force of talent and determination to never take no for an answer, that would grow into the Knowledge Is Power Program (KIPP), which now includes sixty-six schools in nineteen states and the District of Columbia.
KIPP schools combine what Feinberg and Levin learnt from America's greatest and most dynamic teachers: courses must be engaging; school days must be longer (the KIPP day is nine and a half hours); and homework must be completed without fail (KIPP teachers are available by telephone day and night). The program is energized with chants, songs, and slogans like "Work hard, be pleasant." Mathews provides us something pretty rare: an optimistic book on education, by illuminating the ups and downs of the KIPP founders and their kids.
