Exit, Voice, and Nikole Hannah-Jones
The New York Times journalist said intensive tutoring helped her daughter close major math gaps after years in struggling Brooklyn schools.
- On Sunday, The New York Times journalist and 1619 Project creator Nikole Hannah-Jones published a personal essay expressing regret for enrolling her daughter, Najya, in a struggling public school, with Najya telling her mother, "I never really got the education I wanted."
- In 2015, Hannah-Jones enrolled her daughter at P.S. 307, aiming to use family resources to challenge educational inequality, though the school struggled with academic performance near a public housing development.
- Despite spending over $52,000 per student annually, economist Alex Tabarrok noted P.S. 307 failed to provide foundational education; Najya struggled with algebra skills, prompting Hannah-Jones to acknowledge her daughter "got cheated" out of the education she deserved.
- Critics accused Hannah-Jones of using her child as a "civic sacrament," while supporters defended her focus on community integration; Hannah-Jones responded she does not regret "caring about more than my own child."
- The essay reignited debates over "school choice" and economist Albert Hirschman's theory that exit rights can harm flawed institutions by causing influential parents to leave rather than reform them.
16 Articles
16 Articles
Why Nikole Hannah-Jones is wrong about failing schools
No institution in American life has perpetuated “systemic racism” quite as effectively as the big-city public school system. And no institution has fought harder to preserve segregated communities more than teachers unions. In a fascinating New York Times essay, “In Fighting for Every Black Child, Did I Betray My Own?” Nikole Hannah-Jones, one of the […]
POLITICS: Hannah-Jones Essay Makes Stark Case For School Choice Now – The Beltway Report
Nikole Hannah-Jones wrote about her daughter’s years in struggling New York City schools and, in the process, laid out a powerful case for school choice. Her account chronicles classroom chaos, missed instruction, and the way standards and a different environment finally pulled the child forward. This piece looks at those moments and the policy implications that Republican reformers have championed for years. Hannah-Jones enrolled her daughter N…
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