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1-Page Summary of How Children Succeed

Overview

Paul Tough’s book, How Children Succeed, is a review of the latest research on how character traits are more important than cognitive abilities in determining future success. Most schools still focus on teaching math and language skills, but they’re missing the point that those skills aren’t enough if students lack other character traits like persistence and a good attitude.

Adverse childhood experiences can cause children to feel stress, which affects their ability to achieve. Many low-income students don’t attend college because they’ve had difficult childhoods and have made mistakes in life. However, it’s possible that if these students experienced less stress during adolescence, they would be more motivated to go to college. On the other hand, adults who experience high levels of stress are able to cope with them better than those who haven’t been stressed as much or at all in their lives. Children should be allowed some freedom and encouraged not to fear failure so that they will become more resilient when facing adversity later on in life.

Middle and high school programs like the Knowledge Is Power Program (KIPP) and the Youth Advocate Program (YAP) encourage students to improve their cognitive skills so they can do well in college, as well as help them develop good character traits. Students also learn how to assess their own thinking patterns so that they can recognize destructive thinking and take steps to correct it. The most successful programs focus on helping children believe that they have the capacity for growth, a concept known as “the growth mindset.”

Students who fail to achieve academically still face a number of challenges. For example, they may aspire to do something that is unfamiliar to them or find it difficult to get financial assistance for school. But character training and less emphasis on standardized test scores are becoming more popular in education circles.

Key Takeaways

Over the years, it was thought that a child’s cognitive ability was the key to predicting their success in life. However, recent research and successful programs have shown that character is just as important if not more so than cognitive ability when it comes to adult success.

The more adverse childhood events someone experiences, the lower their achievement in adulthood. This is because attentive parenting can reduce that stress and prevent low achievement in adulthood. Traits that predict success include grit, which comes from taking high-stake risks and confronting failure.

If you’re not a high achiever, there’s nothing wrong with that. You can still succeed if you work hard and are motivated to do so. Motivation is the key to success. However, it’s important to understand how motivation works and what factors influence it.

Character development is often focused on encouraging conformity and docility. However, this can lead to shallow obedience with rule-breaking where it’s possible to get away with it. Changing a person’s character requires the belief that change is possible, even in young children who are able to recognize negative thinking patterns and adjust their perspective accordingly.

To get a low-achieving middle or high school student into college, they need to believe that it is possible and work hard to achieve their goal. They can use their freshman year to catch up with other students and learn the necessary skills such as study habits and how to ask for help from teachers and classmates.

It’s important for children to develop their cognitive abilities. However, the way you raise your kids can affect their risk-taking and innovation later in life. If you focus on developing your child’s intelligence, they may be less likely to take risks as an adult because they’re afraid of failure. On the other hand, if you let them fail when learning new things, it will help them become more innovative adults.