内容简介
11+, GCSEs, A levels - it sometimes seems like the story of our children's lives is of one academic test after another. We're convinced that a good performance in these exams will lead to success later on in life. But what if we're wrong?
In fact, studies are increasingly showing that the qualities most likely to ensure a better degree, a better job and, ultimately, a more fulfilling life are perseverance, curiosity, conscientiousness, optimism, and self-control. These are qualities known to economists as 'non-cognitive', to psychologists as 'personality traits' but to the rest of us as 'character'.
How Children Succeed introduces us to a new generation of researchers and educators who are using the tools of science to peel back the mysteries of character. Through their stories - and the stories of the children they are trying to help - acclaimed journalist Paul Tough traces the links between childhood stress, childhood cosseting, and life success. He uncovers the surprising ways in which parents prepare - or fail to prepare - their children for adulthood. And he provides new insights into the best ways to help children growing up in poverty.
Early adversity, scientists have come to understand, not only physically affects children's lives, it can also alter the neurological development of their brains. But now educators and doctors are using that knowledge to develop innovative interventions that allow children to overcome the constraints of poverty. And with the help of these new strategies, as Tough's eye-opening reporting makes clear, even children who grow up in the most painful circumstances can go on to achieve amazing things.
This is a provocative and profoundly hopeful book that will change the way you think about raising and educating children.
作者简介
Paul Tough is the author of Whatever It Takes: Geoffrey Canada's Quest to Change Harlem and America and the author of a series of acclaimed articles on character and childhood in the New York Times Magazine and the New Yorker. He is a contributing editor to the New York Times Magazine and a frequent contributor to the public-radio program This American Life. He lives with his wife and son in New York.
精彩书评
"Drop the flashcards - grit, character, and curiosity matter even more than cognitive skills. A persuasive wake-up call."
—People Magazine
"In this absorbing and important book, Tough explains why American children from both ends of the socioeconomic spectrum are missing out on these essential experiences. … The book illuminates the extremes of American childhood: for rich kids, a safety net drawn so tight it’s a harness; for poor kids, almost nothing to break their fall."
—Annie Murphy Paul, The New York Times Book Review
"An engaging book that casts the school reform debate in a provocative new light. … [Tough] introduces us to a wide-ranging cast of characters — economists, psychologists, and neuroscientists among them — whose work yields a compelling new picture of the intersection of poverty and education."
—Thomas Toch, The Washington Monthly
"Mr. Tough’s new book, How Children Succeed: Grit, Curiosity and the Hidden Power of Character, combines compelling findings in brain research with his own first-hand observations on the front lines of school reform. He argues that the qualities that matter most to children’s success have more to do with character – and that parents and schools can play a powerful role in nurturing the character traits that foster success. His book is an inspiration. It has made me less of a determinist, and more of an optimist."
—Margaret Wente, The Globe and Mail
"How Children Succeed is a must-read for all educators. It’s a fascinating book that makes it very clear that the conventional wisdom about child development is flat-out wrong."
—School Leadership Briefing
"I loved this book and the stories it told about children who succeed against big odds and the people who help them. … It is well-researched, wonderfully written and thought-provoking."
—Siobhan Curious, Classroom as Microcosm
"How to Succeed takes readers on a high-speed tour of experimental schools and new research, all peppered with anecdotes about disadvantaged youths overcoming the odds, and affluent students meeting enough resistance to develop character strengths."
—James Sweeney, Cleveland Plain Dealer
"[This] wonderfully written new book reveals a school improvement measure in its infancy that has the potential to transform our schools, particularly in low-income neighborhoods."
—Jay Mathews, Washington Post
"Nurturing successful kids doesn’t have to be a game of chance. There are powerful new ideas out there on how best to equip children to thrive, innovations that have transformed schools, homes, and lives. Paul Tough has scoured the science and met the people who are challenging what we thought we knew about childhood and success. And now he has written the instruction manual. Every parent should read this book – and every policymaker, too."
— Charles Duhigg, author of The Power of Habit
"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."
—Alex Kotlowitz, author of There Are No Children Here
"Turning the conventional wisdom about child development on its head, New York Times Magazine editor Tough argues that non-cognitive skills (persistence, self-control, curiosity, conscientiousness, grit and self-confidence) are the most critical to success in school and life....Well-written and bursting with ideas, this will be essential reading for anyone who cares about childhood in America. "
— STARRED Kirkus Reviews
“This American Life contributor Tough (Whatever It Takes: Geoffrey Canada’s Quest to Change Harlem and America) tackles new theories on childhood education with a compelling style that weaves in personal details about his own child and childhood. Personal narratives of administrators, teachers, students, single mothers, and scientists lend support to the extensive scientific studies Tough uses to discuss a new, character-based learning approach."
—Publishers Weekly
前言/序言
How Children Succeed: Grit, Curiosity, and the Hidden Power of Character [精装] 下载 mobi epub pdf txt 电子书 格式
How Children Succeed: Grit, Curiosity, and the Hidden Power of Character [精装] 下载 mobi pdf epub txt 电子书 格式 2024
How Children Succeed: Grit, Curiosity, and the Hidden Power of Character [精装] mobi epub pdf txt 电子书 格式下载 2024