How Children Succeed

Paul Tough is a contributing writer to New York Times Magazine, where he has written extensively about education, parenting, poverty, and politics, including cover stories on character education, the achievement gap, the post-Katrina school system in New Orleans, the 'No Child Left Behind' policy and charter schools. He has also been a contributor to This American Life, as part of which he reported on the Harlem Children Zone's 'Baby College', an 8-week program where young parents learn how to help their children become successful. His book about the Harlem's Children Zone is called Whatever It Takes. He lives in New York with his wife and his young son.

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.