“Drop the flashcards—grit, character, and curiosity matter even more than cognitive skills. A persuasive wake-up call.”— People

Why do some children succeed while others fail? The story we usually tell about childhood and success is the one about intelligence: success comes to those who score highest on tests, from preschool admissions to SATs. But in How Children Succeed, Paul Tough argues that the qualities that matter more have to do with character: skills like perseverance, curiosity, optimism, and self-control.

How Children Succeed introduces us to a new generation of researchers and educators, who, for the first time, are using the tools of science to peel back the mysteries of character. Through their stories—and the stories of the children they are trying to help—Tough reveals how this new knowledge can transform young people’s lives. He uncovers the surprising ways in which parents do—and do not—prepare their children for adulthood. And he provides us with new insights into how to improve the lives of children growing up in poverty. This provocative and profoundly hopeful book will not only inspire and engage readers, it will also change our understanding of childhood itself.

“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.”— New York Times

“I learned so much reading this book and I came away full of hope about how we can make life better for all kinds of kids.”— Slate

作者簡介

Paul Tough is the author, most recently, of "How Children Succeed: Grit, Curiosity, and the Hidden Power of Character." His first book, "Whatever It Takes: Geoffrey Canada's Quest to Change Harlem and America," was published in the U.K. in 2009. He has written extensively about education, child development, poverty, and politics, including cover stories in the New York Times Magazine on character education, the achievement gap, and the Obama administration's anti-poverty policies. He has worked as an editor at the New York Times Magazine and Harper's Magazine and as a reporter and producer for the American public-radio program "This American Life." He was the founding editor of Open Letters, an online magazine. His writing has appeared in the New Yorker, Slate, GQ, Esquire, and Geist, and on the op-ed page of the New York Times. He lives with his wife and son in New York.

精彩書評

"Well-written and bursting with ideas, this will be essential [listening] for anyone who cares about childhood in America."
——Kirkus Starred Review
"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

"Every parent should read this book - and every policymaker, too." --Charles Duhigg, author of The Power of Habit

"A timely and essential message . a brilliantly readable account of the growing evidence that inner resources count more than any amount of extra teaching support or after-school programmes when it comes to overcoming education disadvantage"-- Independent