PAUL TOUGH is the author of Whatever It Takes: Geoffrey Canada's Quest to Change Harlem and America. He has written extensively about education, child development, and poverty in cover stories for the New York Times Magazine, and in The New Yorker, Slate, GQ, Esquire, and the New York Times.
"Drop the flashcards - grit, character, and curiosity matter even
more than cognitive skills. A persuasive wake-up call."
--People Magazine "In this absorbing and important book, Tough
explains why American children from both ends of the socioeconomic
spectrum are missing out on these essential experiences. ... The
book illuminates the extremes of American childhood: for rich kids,
a safety net drawn so tight it's a harness; for poor kids, almost
nothing to break their fall."
--Annie Murphy Paul, The New York Times Book Review "An engaging
book that casts the school reform debate in a provocative new
light. ... [Tough] introduces us to a wide-ranging cast of
characters -- economists, psychologists, and neuroscientists among
them -- whose work yields a compelling new picture of the
intersection of poverty and education."
--Thomas Toch, The Washington Monthly "Mr. Tough's new book, How
Children Succeed: Grit, Curiosity and the Hidden Power of
Character, combines compelling findings in brain research with his
own first-hand observations on the front lines of school reform. He
argues that the qualities that matter most to children's success
have more to do with character - and that parents and schools can
play a powerful role in nurturing the character traits that foster
success. His book is an inspiration. It has made me less of a
determinist, and more of an optimist."
--Margaret Wente, The Globe and Mail "How Children Succeed is a
must-read for all educators. It's a fascinating book that makes it
very clear that the conventional wisdom about child development is
flat-out wrong."
--School Leadership Briefing "I loved this book and the stories it
told about children who succeed against big odds and the people who
help them. ... It is well-researched, wonderfully written and
thought-provoking."
--Siobhan Curious, Classroom as Microcosm "How to Succeed takes
readers on a high-speed tour of experimental schools and new
research, all peppered with anecdotes about disadvantaged youths
overcoming the odds, and affluent students meeting enough
resistance to develop character strengths."
--James Sweeney, Cleveland Plain Dealer "[This] wonderfully written
new book reveals a school improvement measure in its infancy that
has the potential to transform our schools, particularly in
low-income neighborhoods."
--Jay Mathews, Washington Post "Nurturing successful kids doesn't
have to be a game of chance. There are powerful new ideas out there
on how best to equip children to thrive, innovations that have
transformed schools, homes, and lives. Paul Tough has scoured the
science and met the people who are challenging what we thought we
knew about childhood and success. And now he has written the
instruction manual. Every parent should read this book - and every
policymaker, too."
-- Charles Duhigg, author of The Power of Habit "I wish I could
take this compact, powerful, clear-eyed, beautifully written book
and put it in the hands of every parent, teacher and politician. At
its core is a notion that is electrifying in its originality and
its optimism: that character -- not cognition -- is central to
success, and that character can be taught. How Children
Succeed will change the way you think about children. But more than
that: it will fill you with a sense of what could be."
--Alex Kotlowitz, author of There Are No Children Here "Turning the
conventional wisdom about child development on its head, New York
Times Magazine editor Tough argues that non-cognitive skills
(persistence, self-control, curiosity, conscientiousness, grit and
self-confidence) are the most critical to success i --
"Drop the flashcards - grit, character, and curiosity matter
even more than cognitive skills. A persuasive wake-up call."
--People Magazine "In this absorbing and important book,
Tough explains why American children from both ends of the
socioeconomic spectrum are missing out on these essential
experiences. ... The book illuminates the extremes of American
childhood: for rich kids, a safety net drawn so tight it's a
harness; for poor kids, almost nothing to break their fall."
--Annie Murphy Paul, The New York Times Book Review "An
engaging book that casts the school reform debate in a provocative
new light. ... [Tough] introduces us to a wide-ranging cast of
characters -- economists, psychologists, and neuroscientists among
them -- whose work yields a compelling new picture of the
intersection of poverty and education."
--Thomas Toch, The Washington Monthly "Mr. Tough's new
book, How Children Succeed: Grit, Curiosity and the Hidden Power of
Character, combines compelling findings in brain research with his
own first-hand observations on the front lines of school reform. He
argues that the qualities that matter most to children's success
have more to do with character - and that parents and schools can
play a powerful role in nurturing the character traits that foster
success. His book is an inspiration. It has made me less of a
determinist, and more of an optimist."
--Margaret Wente, The Globe and Mail "How Children
Succeed is a must-read for all educators. It's a fascinating
book that makes it very clear that the conventional wisdom about
child development is flat-out wrong."
--School Leadership Briefing "I loved this book and the stories it
told about children who succeed against big odds and the people who
help them. ... It is well-researched, wonderfully written and
thought-provoking."
--Siobhan Curious, Classroom as Microcosm "How to Succeed
takes readers on a high-speed tour of experimental schools and new
research, all peppered with anecdotes about disadvantaged youths
overcoming the odds, and affluent students meeting enough
resistance to develop character strengths."
--James Sweeney, Cleveland Plain Dealer "[This]
wonderfully written new book reveals a school improvement measure
in its infancy that has the potential to transform our schools,
particularly in low-income neighborhoods."
--Jay Mathews, Washington Post "Nurturing successful kids
doesn't have to be a game of chance. There are powerful new ideas
out there on how best to equip children to thrive, innovations that
have transformed schools, homes, and lives. Paul Tough has scoured
the science and met the people who are challenging what we thought
we knew about childhood and success. And now he has written the
instruction manual. Every parent should read this book - and every
policymaker, too."
-- Charles Duhigg, author of The Power of Habit "I wish I
could take this compact, powerful, clear-eyed, beautifully written
book and put it in the hands of every parent, teacher and
politician. At its core is a notion that is electrifying in its
originality and its optimism: that character -- not cognition -- is
central to success, and that character can be taught. How
Children Succeed will change the way you think about children.
But more than that: it will fill you with a sense of what could
be."
--Alex Kotlowitz, author of There Are No Children Here
"Turning the conventional wisdom about child development on its
head, New York Times Magazine editor Tough argues that
non-cognitive skills (persistence, self-control, curiosity,
conscientiousness, grit and self-confidence) are the most critical
to success i --
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