As a mom, I'm always looking for ways to help my children be more successful in life. I'm not looking to raise the next president of the United States or a millionaire or anything like that. I just want my children to have the self-discipline and skills to someday successfully raise their own families, remain strong in our religion, contribute to society and just generally be good people.
So when I saw this title, How Children Succeed: Grit, Curiousity, and the Hidden Power of Character by Paul Tough, I was really interested. Talk about an ambitious title--this topic could fill volumes! Now that I've read it, I found it to be a very interesting book that unfortunately doesn't give me many ideas about raising my own children to be successful.
This book doesn't focus on average children from middle-class families. It mostly focuses on children growing up in very adverse circumstances, such as south Chicago in the projects where drugs, gangs, violence, and poverty are rampant. These children really need a lot of help because they're not getting it from their families and their neighborhoods. Educational reformers are trying different programs to reach out to those kids whom they think have the potential to be successful, but only if someone intervenes. He highlights a few of these kids who look like they will be able to overcome their difficult beginnings. For example, they have a class for kids in their junior year just to prep for the ACT and it has generally helped those kids to go from an average score of 15 to an average score of 18. These are small interventions that seem like patching one hole on a tire full of leaks. But maybe it will do enough good to help a few students overcome their background.
He also looks at children in lower-class neighborhoods in Brooklyn who get involved in a chess class at a certain Brooklyn middle school. The chess class is highly successful at competitions where they are competing against private schools where the wealthy send their children. The teacher has been very good at helping her students learn mental toughness and self-discipline. However, the thinking that chess requires doesn't necessarily help them with academics. This teacher decides to tutor one of her very best chess players, who is nationally ranked and once defeated a Ukrainian grandmaster, and tries to help him get up to speed so that he can get into one of the specialized high schools in the city. She initially thinks it will be easy but soon realizes he is very behind. At the age of 12, he can't locate Africa or Asia on a map, he can't name a single European country, and he can't recognize words like infant or beneficial. He's also behind in math. She feels angry on his behalf that he hasn't been taught these things. He doesn't end up getting into the specialized high school. My question is, why don't his parents care about this? Why are these schools getting away with giving these kids such a poor education? The author doesn't ask those obvious questions.
The author largely focuses on character education in a few schools and how qualities like self-discipline and grit help children succeed. I found those stories very interesting and I applaud any efforts to help children learn those character traits. But to me, the best character education happens at home. I would have been very interested in knowing how we can help ALL families more successfully teach those qualities.
My complaint is that the title of this book is way too ambitious and ultimately misleading. A more accurate title might be, "How Some Children Find a Little Success Despite Extreme Challenges." I'm guessing that wouldn't sell nearly as many books. The real story of how children succeed is through strong families and strong communities that help their children learn how to do hard things and I wish the author had more explicitly acknowledged that.
So when I saw this title, How Children Succeed: Grit, Curiousity, and the Hidden Power of Character by Paul Tough, I was really interested. Talk about an ambitious title--this topic could fill volumes! Now that I've read it, I found it to be a very interesting book that unfortunately doesn't give me many ideas about raising my own children to be successful.
This book doesn't focus on average children from middle-class families. It mostly focuses on children growing up in very adverse circumstances, such as south Chicago in the projects where drugs, gangs, violence, and poverty are rampant. These children really need a lot of help because they're not getting it from their families and their neighborhoods. Educational reformers are trying different programs to reach out to those kids whom they think have the potential to be successful, but only if someone intervenes. He highlights a few of these kids who look like they will be able to overcome their difficult beginnings. For example, they have a class for kids in their junior year just to prep for the ACT and it has generally helped those kids to go from an average score of 15 to an average score of 18. These are small interventions that seem like patching one hole on a tire full of leaks. But maybe it will do enough good to help a few students overcome their background.
He also looks at children in lower-class neighborhoods in Brooklyn who get involved in a chess class at a certain Brooklyn middle school. The chess class is highly successful at competitions where they are competing against private schools where the wealthy send their children. The teacher has been very good at helping her students learn mental toughness and self-discipline. However, the thinking that chess requires doesn't necessarily help them with academics. This teacher decides to tutor one of her very best chess players, who is nationally ranked and once defeated a Ukrainian grandmaster, and tries to help him get up to speed so that he can get into one of the specialized high schools in the city. She initially thinks it will be easy but soon realizes he is very behind. At the age of 12, he can't locate Africa or Asia on a map, he can't name a single European country, and he can't recognize words like infant or beneficial. He's also behind in math. She feels angry on his behalf that he hasn't been taught these things. He doesn't end up getting into the specialized high school. My question is, why don't his parents care about this? Why are these schools getting away with giving these kids such a poor education? The author doesn't ask those obvious questions.
The author largely focuses on character education in a few schools and how qualities like self-discipline and grit help children succeed. I found those stories very interesting and I applaud any efforts to help children learn those character traits. But to me, the best character education happens at home. I would have been very interested in knowing how we can help ALL families more successfully teach those qualities.
My complaint is that the title of this book is way too ambitious and ultimately misleading. A more accurate title might be, "How Some Children Find a Little Success Despite Extreme Challenges." I'm guessing that wouldn't sell nearly as many books. The real story of how children succeed is through strong families and strong communities that help their children learn how to do hard things and I wish the author had more explicitly acknowledged that.
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