“Goodman evokes a strong sense of empathy in the reader…Thorough and well-researched chapters are accompanied by powerful video clips and anecdotes from Goodman's own students at the EVC. Goodman, from a place of vigor and empathy, advocates for open discussion between students and teachers, inquiry and community-based learning, and more frank acknowledgment of the societal barriers marginalized students face.”
—Journal of Social Studies Research
"From a teacher education point of view, this book is a valuable resource for courses...This book makes important connections for educators, spelling out why it’s not accurate to focus solely on the inner resources of low-income students, and describing the history of systemic societal problems that influence this population’s educational experiences, such as housing and immigration policy. The documentary clips that are provided as links throughout the book will help these issues come alive in the classroom, and the guide that is included at the end of the book will support productive conversations."
— Teachers College Record
“Informative, insightful, thoughtful and thought-provoking, It's Not About Grit is very highly recommended as an addition to school district in-service teacher training curriculums, as well as college and university Teacher Education instructional reference collections and supplemental studies reading lists.
—Wisconsin Bookwatch
"It’s not about grit, but it is about agency. Nobody knows better than Steve Goodman how to help young people tell their stories and, in the process, empower themselves with research and video skills and an activist sense of justice. In this brilliant book, Goodman shares their stories with us, with a depth and particularity that you'll find moving and also, I hope, stirring."
—Joseph P. McDonald, professor emeritus, New York University
"This is an insightful and moving analysis of how students from marginalized backgrounds use their work with video to tell their stories, develop critical thinking skills, and overcome obstacles. As the founder and executive director of the Educational Video Center, Steve Goodman has years of experience in helping to create powerful learning experiences for young people. In this important new book, he shares these experiences and shows us that beyond working hard and demonstrating grit, low-income students need support and guidance to become resilient."
—Pedro A. Noguera, University of California, Los Angeles
“This book reads like an absorbing documentary; these are stories that need a public response to match the work of EVC.”
—Deborah Meier, education reform leader
“This is a terrific book and badly needed at this time when ‘grit’ has become the magic word in pedagogic thinking about inner-city kids. Goodman rightly notes that “fixing” children of the poor by fostering their perseverance and persistence—worthy values in themselves—does nothing to address the toxic forces that surround their lives. In tandem with the videos to which the book is linked, it’s a vivid and arresting answer to a newly cultish fashion that is doing us no good.”
—Jonathan Kozol, education activist and bestselling author
"To those of you who are educators, teaching in ‘revolting times,’ under difficult circumstances, working with students who need you as much as ever, this book is a gift and a life raft."
—From the Foreword by Michelle Fine, distinguished professor at the Graduate Center, CUNY
"This wide-ranging, penetrating, and telling book is a marvel that highlights a new and needed direction for American education."
—David E. Kirkland, New York University
