Successful reform movements must be driven by a powerful ideology to back up their conviction. We can probably name the intellectual supports for the big upheavals in recent history: the Enlightenment for the rise of democratic government, capitalism for the rise of the industrial economy, Marxism for the tide of workers’ rights and decolonization movements and consumer choice in media technology.
Big or small, ideas come together from different sources, from the edges into the center, expressing in one voice what many people had previously attempted to say. I finished reading a book this morning which does exactly that for the education reform movement: How Children Succeed: Grit, Curiosity and the Hidden Power of Character by Paul Tough. Drawing on cutting edge neuroscience research and practices by leading luminaries in education, Tough’s road map to children’s achievement is bold and rich. The book also happens to be the current subject of group study by Atlanta education reformers and policymakers.
With Clayton County New Teacher Orientation beginning on Monday and in the midst of planning for the school year, I am not in a position to write about new, transformative experiences I’ve had in Atlanta. Rather, (please indulge another college football analogy!) I feel like Georgia coach Mark Richt on the high dive before he performs his ritual backflip.
Why I Was Skeptical
Upon reading the introduction to How Children Succeed, I expressed some concern it would be another laundry list of blame placed upon low-income students, focused on deficiencies and the “cycle of poverty.” While Tough does tread a fine line with his claims about the many needs of children, he doesn’t go so far as to frame them as insoluble. Scholars such as Charles Murray with the controversial book The Bell Curve do cross this line by claiming some children simply aren’t capable, mainly on racial and socioeconomic lines.
Tough took the approach outlined by the economist Paul Heckman in looking at the noncognitive skills of children as determinants of their future success. When controlling for IQ or socioeconomic status, these skills could predict college completion, future income, incarceration rates and more. I remained skeptical because I remembered a TED Talk Teach For America assigned us to watch called “The Danger of a Single Story.” Is children’s achievement really a matter of their pulling it together and making the right decisions in school — forming the habits which construct their character?
I encourage you to read past blog entries on my site, because you will note I have taken a avowedly progressive stance on these issues, holding more that structural causes and societal attitudes are more likely to repress non-dominant groups than their own decisions. Unless, of course, those decisions are caused by internalized oppression. So I was understandably excited and curious when Tough took a different stance entirely.
Why I am Convinced
Even if Tough’s claims that children need character skills to succeed paints low-income students as deficient, the way in which he uses evidence to support his claims is compelling. The research he draws on shows how students can be measured for character skills not on what are prevailing norms of “middle-class behavior” but on environmental conditions. Students with a high score of “Adverse Childhood Experiences” (ACE) were much more likely to fail in the future because of biological responses triggered by high levels of childhood stress which caused early-onset physical and mental health problems.
The solution Tough gives is not telling children to buck up, suck it up and work hard but rather to be preventative through nurturing parenting, early intervention and strong influencers from within the community. Often communities were already practicing these strategies with their children but did not have the scale, scope or evidence to back up what worked and what did not. Tough goes on to identify the following values as measurable predictors of future success:
Grit, self-control, zest, social intelligence, gratitude, optimism, curiosity.
Tracking charter schools such as KIPP which enact these traits in their schools shows the emotional support and monitoring students require to sustain their success outside the classroom and into college. Additionally, Tough goes on to show how cognitive processes can also benefit from these behavioral changes, as students in a Brooklyn middle school became national chess champions through the stringent mentoring of a teacher.
My skepticism was further answered when Tough also lamented the other end of the behavioral spectrum: when the kinds of skills students need to succeed have atrophied in generations of privilege. Certainly there are many affluent students who are wonderful people, ambitious and successful, but Tough criticizes the culture of students being protected and channeled into “safe” professions with a much more abstract sense of character as “helping others” instead of taking personal responsibility. To connect this to the bigger picture, perhaps it is indicator of the growing inequality in American society and the attitudes this inevitably produces.
The Verdict: Educators as Givers
I am grateful for having this book put in front of me at the time it was, with the school year so close. Tough’s views strike a careful balance and are an excellent new step in the education reform conversation, with major implications for how we support students, how we measure their performance and how we treat them in the classroom.
While I do not think children are “empty vessels” which must be filled, I do believe the circle of people who influence children — among whom are their teachers — have the chance to be like The Giver in Lois Lowry’s children’s book. This happens to be a major book for fifth grade readers, the subject I will be teaching in the fall, and a personal childhood favorite. The Giver shows the protagonist, Jonas, a series of feelings, images and opportunities which give color and life to what was previously only Sameness.
Educators have the chance to unlock this character, to prioritize it in the classroom, and to give children the tools they need to share the ideas driving the revolution. Children in low-income and minority communities face structural obstacles daily, but with Paul Tough’s prescription, they can be that much closer to fighting back.
