How Children Succeed: Grit, Curiosity, and the Hidden Power of Character (utgåvan 2013)

Focusing on the idea that teaching academic content is not only not enough but not as necessary as teaching non academic skills like perseverance, willing to make mistakes and learn from them, this book describes multiple innovative teaching and learning programs that focus on underperforming schools that found ways to give students pathways into college. Quite the interesting examples, with some hope for change but also rather depressing. ( )

The first half is very similar to Nurtureshock, which makes it a good source of information for getting up to date with the latest "common sense" advice given to new parents. The second half talks more about institutionalized education and what society can change about the system to insure better odds at success, but it's pretty tailored for how US does things.

The book is good but I would disagree with the author on how much he insists that higher education is an indicator of success. Grit, curiosity and character can be viewed as ends in themselves, not just as means to getting accepted into college or a road to getting Phds.

Overall it was an insightful read, albeit not groundbreaking unless this is the first good parenting book you encounter. ( )

I so appreciate what Paul Tough does here to talk about the physical and psychological effects of growing up in poverty and around trauma, but he consistently fails to connect those effects with a cause. He mentions the "savage inequalities" of school funding, neighborhood resources and systemic racism only in passing, which is quite hard for me to swallow in a book that claims to be entirely about what poor kids need to succeed.

There's also a lot that made me feel icky about "character" generally -- the values he lists are ones that make for a good worker, but do they make for a better community, a fuller life? I wish he'd investigated whether curricula around social justice could help kids understand the world around them in a more complete way and perhaps also empower them to make changes they want to see. Is the KIPP model of discipline and testing just replicating the extrinsic motivation he claims has so ill-served better-off kids?

When affluent kids can screw up, drop out, and still succeed, or when they ride a greased chute from $40k/yr preschool to Riverdale to McKinsey & Company, is character really what leads kids to succeed?

What really needs to change: Kids or schools? Schools or culture? Is "no excuses" asking kids to take on the weight of systemic racism and oppression? Are we allowing the elite to skip the responsibility of addressing poverty by saying kids can get themselves out?



Smaller notes:
Youngest kids did have character assessments on report cards for parents when I was a kid ("plays well with others"). Is social/emotional learning a new concept?

If it's something we can't or don't yet test for, does the argument that the "power of character" contributes more to a child's success than tests results might indicate undermine the argument for an intense testing regime, like the one many charter schools he celebrates have? Could Tough have addressed testing itself? ( )

I won this book through the GoodReads first-reads program.

I've read previous books on topics such as education reform, the work of [a:Neil Postman|41963|Neil Postman|http://d202m5krfqbpi5.cloudfront.net/authors/1193415026p2/41963.jpg] coming most immediately to mind along with [a:Daniel Pink|96150|Daniel H. Pink|http://d202m5krfqbpi5.cloudfront.net/authors/1243997247p2/96150.jpg], but none that quite looked at it the way that [a:Paul Tough|1186184|Paul Tough|http://d202m5krfqbpi5.cloudfront.net/authors/1338175680p2/1186184.jpg] did. This book examined the importance of character and how good parents and good teachers can bring out the best attributes in the children they work with.

Examining low income schools and the way that poverty affects success [a:Paul Tough|1186184|Paul Tough|http://d202m5krfqbpi5.cloudfront.net/authors/1338175680p2/1186184.jpg] lays out what he believes would be the best course to take to break the cycle that too many children get sucked into. While it's too in depth to truly examine in a review, I do believe that teachers should at least peruse this book to perhaps take some advice away from it all. This is a complex and contentious issue, and an ever increasing one.

At the very least, this book could start a conversation between teachers as to what is to be done, perhaps it could even point them towards a good solution? ( )

Grit, Curiosity, and the Hidden Power of Character