Inequality and immobility are prominent preoccupations on all sides of our politics, and everyone agrees that education must be at the center of any effort to alleviate them. But two approaches to improving opportunities through K-12 education that have gained attention in recent years—income integration and “no-excuses” education—highlight the challenges facing reformers. Both are at the forefront of efforts to help lower-income children get more out of school. But both, in different ways, force us to confront the controversial character of their clear but implicit common assumption: that to narrow achievement gaps, schools should instill middle-class values in poor students.