When I click a link and see David Brooks's face, I have the same exact feeling as when I fall for a rick roll.
"Can the culture of child-rearing be changed in poor neighborhoods, and if so, is that a project that government or community organizations have the ability, or the right, to take on?"
(Changing the culture is defined as extending the school day to keep kids away from their parents, and also changing the qualitative school experience. The idea being that poor black kids are qualitatively different than poor white kids, and they need a qualitatively different school system based on rote memorization and frequent testing.)
Yeah I don't really see whats magical about this program, its just really intensive. If you took all the underachievers from other schools and tutored them for 6 hours a day then those school's scores would rise too.
It's sort of like the "epiphany" of clear-build-hold in Iraq. No shit - the secret to progress is focusing on fundamentals and working your ass off? But then again, maybe common sense in bureaucracy is magical.
However, I honestly don't see anything bad about transplanting people from a seemingly negative cultural surrounding to one which is more likely to make them have a more successful and fulfilling life, even if it seems hostile to parents and condescending to poor neighborhoods.