Large, Boyce, hooks and Aronson

Large
In Jerry Large's review of Paul Tough's book, "How Children Succeed: Grit, Curiosity, and the Hidden Power of Character," he agrees with Tough's claim that children need a balance of nurturing and tough love in order to become successful. Both claim that building character in an individual with ultimately result in success. Tough compares and contrasts two different schools in his book. One which had a rigorous, challenging academic program and the other nurturing to the individual students, but not challenging. Ultimately the majority of students from each school ended up doing poorly once the moved on, supporting Tough's claim that children need balance in their lives in order to be successful.

Boyce
In this article Boyce advocates for a focus on the mental health and well-being of students and teachers. His main focus is on Dr. Greenberg, a professor at Penn State, who has done many studies on the subject. Boyce claims that by teaching students and parents to be mindful and emotional stable will ultimately lead to success. This involves everything from teaching classes on how to emotionally connect with one another, especially between parents and children, to yoga classes. Boyce attempts to increase his credibility by referencing several prestigious studies and by using research and quotes from Dr. Greenberg. Boyce also has a religious motivation, which is not surprising since the article is from a Buddhist magazine. Many of the programs he advocates for are highly supported by Buddhist philosophy. He even alludes to the "Eight-fold Path" at one point.

hooks
In this passages hooks claims that the most important thing for students to be taught, is critical thinking. She states that this is something all students are capable of, but it is not always encouraged. She uses personal experience from teaching at two different schools to support her claim. One of the school is highly prestigious and the other known for having many impoverished students. Hooks claims that students at each school were equally brilliant, but the ones from the more affluent school tended to have a bigger ego, which sometimes corrupted their learning. In the other school, the students did not have a great sense of self because they were not expected to do well. Their critical thinking skills were not encouraged, but instead they were often taught in a condescending manner. Hooks states that both ways are ineffective ways of educating students.

Aronson
In this article Aronson discusses the shut down of a Mexican Studies program and more broadly touches on the ignorance of education officials, discrimination and the dangers of censorship. Aronson begins by stating the success of the program and goes on to question the reasoning behind its shut down. Many claim that this particular issue was caused by a discriminatory ideology. Aronson claims that officials responsible for shutting down the program were unable to provide convincing evidence to support their reasoning for the shut down. This can be applied more broadly to many cases of unwarranted censorship. It is also not the first time a successful program has been shut down because it did not agree with the state officials philosophy on education. Aronson also points out the ignorance of the state education officials. She references several local educators who were frustrated with the lack of communication between themselves and those at the state level. Although this article focuses on one indecent, Aronson is able to make it relatable to the reader by stating that issues like this can happen anywhere and it is up to the citizen to advocate for the education programs they believe in.