How Children Succeed: Grit, Curiosity, and the Hidden Power of Character by Paul Tough

(Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, $27)

Try as they might to help our children succeed, most classroom teachers do the job only half-right, said James Sweeney in the Cleveland Plain Dealer. In a book that “takes readers on a high-speed tour of experimental schools and new research,” journalist Paul Tough argues that many more students would thrive in life if their schools focused more on teaching character, rather than just content. Tough, who writes for The New York Times Magazine, brings to light various recent studies that suggest that IQ is less predictive of a child’s success than harder-to-measure traits such as persistence, optimism, curiosity, and self-control. But he also peppers his account with anecdotes indicating that this suite of traits—call it grit, for short—can be learned.

This “important” book is more than a how-to for educators, said Annie Murphy Paul in The New York Times. One surprise is that Tough thinks the shortage of character-building experiences is as acute for wealthy children as it is for poor ones. Disadvantaged kids face more challenges and stresses than many of them can overcome without increased adult support, but the children of affluent parents often have equally little experience with facing and overcoming failure—the key to building grit. Because Tough has an eye on both ends of the economic spectrum, his book becomes “a guide to the ironies and perversities of income inequality in America.”

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There’s also plenty of good news in Tough’s report, said Thomas Toch in The Washington Monthly. Poor parents can take heart in studies showing that the effects of poverty on child development can be overcome by the power of a nurturing relationship. Also striking is evidence indicating that individuals can learn resilience well into adulthood. Liberals may be uneasy teaching “character” to disadvantaged students, while conservatives might not like the costly programs that Tough suggests many children need. Still, Tough’s “engaging” book “could be the basis of a compelling reform agenda.”