How Children Succeed by Paul Tough

This is a very good short book about what matters and what probably does not when it comes to the character of children and the success they go on to have as adults.  There is not a lot of new ground broken here, but it is a good reminder that the things that we thought would be helpful don’t always turn out that way, that character can be taught and manipulated and changed.

Seven characteristics matter:

·         Grit
·         Self control
·         Zest
·         Social intelligence
·         Gratitude
·         Optimism
·         Curiosity 

The author goes through each of these, giving specific examples of each characteristic, and why in particular it is a stand alone important trait.  Then he goes through a series of very compelling stories about how to positively influence the character of high risk children, kids who grow up in both violence and poverty, who have a high risk of dropping out of high school, much less never going to college.  One vehicle is chess--which teaches children patience, self control, and gives them some confidence in their intellectual abilities.  He tells the story of a middle school chess team that has not so much tremendous talent as it has depth--so as a team they have a chance to win, even though as individuals they do not.   There is a little bit of the Malcolm Gladwell concept of 'Outliers'--that if you practice anything long enough that you can become good at it--the idea that some things can indeed be taught, that you do not have to be born with any of the characteristics necessarily.  You can learn them--but you have to stick with it.

The final section of the book is about sticking with things.  The author explores some of the things that led to himself dropping out of college at one point, and juxtaposes that against some of the kids that he interviewed in writing the book--this is the brightest part of the book, for my taste, because it contextualizes the intellectual material and allows the reader to do the same.  Very enjoyable read.