The Price of Nice: How Good Intentions Maintain Educational Inequity

by Angelina E. Castagno (Editor)

How being “nice” in school and university settings works to reinforce racialized, gendered, and (dis)ability-related inequities in education and society   Being nice is difficult to critique. Niceness is almost always portrayed and felt as a positive quality. In schools, nice teachers are popular among students, parents, and administrators. And yet Niceness, as a distinct set of practices and discourses, is not actually good for individuals, institutions, or communities because of the way it maintains and reinforces educational inequity.  In The Price of Nice , an interdisciplinary group of scholars explores Niceness in educational spaces from elementary schools through higher education to highlight how this seemingly benign quality reinforces structural inequalities. Grounded in data, personal narrative, and theory, the chapters show that Niceness, as a raced, gendered, and classed set of behaviors, functions both as a shield to save educators from having to do the hard work of dismantling inequity and as a disciplining agent for those who attempt or even consider disrupting structures and ideologies of dominance.  Contributors: Sarah Abuwandi, Arizona State U; Colin Ben, U of Utah; Nicholas Bustamante, Arizona State U; Aidan/Amanda J. Charles, Northern Arizona U; Jeremiah Chin, Arizona State U; Sally Campbell Galman, U of Massachusetts; Frederick Gooding Jr., Texas Christian U; Deirdre Judge, Tufts U; Katie A. Lazdowski; Román Liera, U of Southern California; Sylvia Mac, U of La Verne; Lindsey Malcolm-Piqueux, California Institute of Technology; Giselle Martinez Negrette, U of Wisconsin–Madison; Amber Poleviyuma, Arizona State U; Alexus Richmond, Arizona State U; Frances J. Riemer, Northern Arizona U; Jessica Sierk, St. Lawrence U; Bailey B. Smolarek, U of Wisconsin–Madison; Jessica Solyom, Arizona State U; Megan Tom, Arizona State U; Sabina Vaught, U of Oklahoma; Cynthia Diana Villarreal, U of Southern California; Kristine T. Weatherston, Temple U; Joseph C. Wegwert, Northern Arizona U; Marguerite Anne Fillion Wilson, Binghamton U; Jia-Hui Stefanie Wong, Trinity College; Denise Gray Yull, Binghamton U.

Genres: Nonfiction, Education, Social Justice, Professional Development

312 pages, Paperback

Published October 22, 2019

Reviews

[Laura · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a very thought provoking work about how the seemingly good quality of niceness can be used to stifle meaningful progress on social justice issues. It explains a lot about why we continue to be stuck despite many people’s desires (real and/or espoused) for progress.

[Jess · Rating 5 out of 5]

I read all the chapters in the higher ed and community sections, started on the K-12 section, and basically said "screw it" and returned it to the library because I can see myself returning to this collection a lot and I want my own copy. The only chapter I read that seemed noticeably weak was the last one, but for an anthology that is an amazingly high success rate.

Topics covered that got me especially energized:
• special education is a form of interest convergence (chapter 4)
• niceness means ignoring problems and prevents critical thinking (chapter 6)
• student feedback forms suck (chapter 7)
• niceness forces silence in the face of racism (chapter 8)
• students of colored are forced to reproduce white supremacy to survive school (chapters 9-10)
• well-meaning race-neutral policies around diversity actually perpetuate racial inequities (chapter 11)
• "focus on the positive" is a way to sidestep taking responsibility to address racism (chapter 12)
• "midwestern nice" interferes with social justice education (chapter 13)
• niceness and heteropatriarchy in the raising of white girls (chapter 14)

[Wendy Gardiner · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is an important read and I’m glad to have read and thought about the social construction of niceness and how enacted niceness upholds the status quo & serves to derail justice work. I’m the edited book, contributors employ niceness as an analytic category to explore how equity is stymied in K-12 schools, higher ed, and schools and society. Taken together the chapters offer a clear construct of niceness and why it’s problematic. There are some outstanding chapters and the only reason for a 4 star review was that after a point the ideas began to feel repetitive (and I like reading for depth and nuance). In all, I think there could have been a few less chapters but it is still an important read that picks up where DiAngelo’s White Fragility leaves off in exploring whiteness and socialization.

[Sydney Anderson]

first book for school! doing a lot of reflecting about niceness