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Kendall Egan's avatar

This is such a good philosophy, these are the teachers and professors you remember most fondly. It is a good rule of thumb for parenting too. Imagine if there were fewer bulldozer parents and more warm demanders...

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Josh Brake's avatar

Thanks Kendall. Yes indeed. We need fewer bulldozers and more gardeners...

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Mike Kentz's avatar

My grad school experience at Relay GSE centered around the warm demanding approach. It works on so many levels, but I especially found it useful with middle schoolers. At the MS level, without the warm part you might as well be up a creek without a paddle.

Great article!

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MES's avatar

A provocative piece!

The warm demander is certainly worthy of a manifesto.I read about this in Zarreta Hammond’s book, and I have always thought it is a perfect tear-down of the authoritarian style that promises results through a “rigor” rooted in hubris and withholding. The structure & the high expectations are the save, the salve to the tension between empathy and unhealthy permissiveness.

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Ruth Fisher's avatar

"The struggle is not the point, but it is an unavoidable part of growing." Wow. Yes!

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