Tough’s Purpose and Motivation
The book, How Children Succeed, is purposeful as it seeks to elucidate the underlying factors for a child’s education excellence or failure considering the family, neighborhood, and school aspects of a child’s development. Tough (2013) aims at clarifying that regardless of one’s background, success can be achieved through the development of a success-oriented character. Tough (2013) shares the story of Elizabeth Dozier and Nadine Burke, who are raised from poor and wealthy families respectively.
Despite the disparities in their upbringing, the two individuals had the ambition of helping the needy in the American neighborhoods. Therefore, Dozier became the Principal of Christian Fenger High in Chicago while Burke established a clinic in the impoverished San Francisco neighborhoods (Tough, 2013). The personal experiences of both Dozier and Burke inspired and motivated Tough to write the book to show that character and ambition play a critical role in an individual’s success regardless of the childhood experiences.
Tough also seeks to depict the instrumental roles played by education facilitators in fostering the academic success of children from diverse backgrounds. Tough (2013) narrates about David Levin, who established the Knowledge is Power Program (KIPP) to raise the education standards of Black and Hispanic students. The purpose of bringing out the idea is to show how educational programs that value character development can produce academic excellence in impoverished areas. Despite 47% of Lewin’s students graduating, Tough is still motivated to write on the influence of education programs if they are also focused on the development of non-cognitive skills.
Tough emphasizes the role of parents and caregivers in facilitating the growth and development of the intellectual and character aspects of children. He notes, “Parents and other caregivers who are in a position to form close and nurturing relationships with their children can foster resilience in them that protects them from many of the worst effects of a harsh early environment” (Tough, 2013, p. 28). In this view, parents are regarded as significant elements required for laying the foundations necessary for success regardless of the environment of upbringing. Tough (2013) also aims at describing the kind of relationship between the parent and the mother by regarding it as not only psychological but also biochemical. The parental roles motivate him to cover the topic of children’s success since he also had personal experiences in the Chicago neighborhoods that are characterized by low-income families.
Affirming Tough’s Concerns for Education
Education is a vital element for an individual’s success considering the skills acquired and their essence for securing opportunities for personal and collective growth. I support Tough’s concerns for education especially on the aspects of the child’s environment, parental nurturing, education strategies, and character development based on non-cognitive skills. The author puts the issue of education success into perspective by addressing the core issues that aim at influencing relevant parties for the benefit of the communities from both poor and rich backgrounds. He also addresses the issue from a scientific point of view.
Tough (2013) focuses on childhood stress and success at a later age based on the environmental factors. Adversities at an early age have detrimental effects on children’s lives that might result in altered brain development, thus leading to intellectually weak individuals. In this regard, Tough’s concern is genuine as he points out the alleviation of impoverished conditions that have adverse health implications, which hinders normal intellectual development. His concern for the educational success of children from low-income households is sincere, and thus this aspect requires support from policymakers, educators, parents, and all other stakeholders.
The need for fostering the development of non-cognitive skills is also a huge concern for Tough. Tough (2013) argues that the development of competencies like perseverance, conscientiousness, curiosity, optimism, and self-control is critical during the growth of a child. Most educators concentrate on academic scores, thus neglecting the need for character development through non-cognitive skills. Tough’s advocacy for the development of non-cognitive skills is essential for the creation of success-oriented characters.
Tough explains the aspects that are important for the education success of a child from a perspective that evokes surprise. The introduction creates surprise as Tough (2013) refutes the notion that poverty does not matter. Various personal chronicles in the introduction depict Tough interviewing individuals to assess how poverty induced experiences have a bearing on one’s success. Here, the amazement is portrayed as the author tries to uncover why the privatizers claim that poverty does not affect a person’s success or failure in life. For instance, Tough (2013) narrates the experiences of Kewauna, who had been arrested for causing chaos at school. Apparently, her mother went through the experiences when she was young as she was involved in gangs, drugs, and other illegal activities. Therefore, the aspects of parenting, the environment, and character development emerge surprisingly.
Comparing and Contrasting Tough’s Introduction with my Education Experience
Individuals have gone through varying educational experiences since an early age to teenage and later in their adulthood. Tough’s introductory ideas provide a chance for one to compare and contrast his or her experiences considering one’s current success or failure. I account for the success in education that I have achieved up to date due to the excellent parental care. The supportive nurturing experiences in early childhood were instrumental for the development attachment, which through bonding resulted in the development of confidence and optimism. Tough (2013) advocates appropriate caregiving practices that nurture the character development of a child, which is necessary for success. Comparing the two cases, similarities emerge depicting that Tough’s ideas on nurturing are valid and reliable out of personal experiences and educational outcomes.
I come from a humble background characterized by temporary economic difficulties. Therefore, it suffices to conclude that my situation is similar to the case of children from poor areas in Chicago. The financial challenges did not kill my ambitious attempts of attaining success in my academic endeavors. Tough (2013) talks about Elizabeth Dozier, who was only raised by her mother using a meager income. Despite the challenging environment characterized by financial difficulties, Dozier managed to scale the heights of education and later became the Principal of Christian Fenger High in Chicago, which is one of the schools associated with conflicts amongst student (Tough, 2013). Although Dozier has attained more success considering her position, I compare my education success to hers based on the financial aspects of upbringing.
The uniformity of students from low-income backgrounds, as depicted in Lewin’s KIPP initiative, is similar to my early childhood environment. The early age up to teenage education experience was characterized by classmates from families that were relatively similar to my family’s economic status in spite the diverse cultural backgrounds. Similar to drop out cases at the KIPP initiative, our graduation lot was at 68% of the total expected graduates. This aspect was attributed to factors caused by poor parenting, gang affiliation, and other varied hardships. However, being among the group that graduated from high school portrays varying personal choices due to the character that I had developed.
On the aspect of the development of non-cognitive skills, I contradict Tough’s ideas that teachers must impart the skills through various educational programs that are not affiliated to academic scores. I acquired some of the non-cognitive skills including optimism, self-control, curiosity, and perseverance from personal experiences that shaped up my personality traits. Through the socialization in the family setting, the skills developed since I had to overcome the challenges caused by financial shortcomings. In this regard, I perceive the development of non-cognitive skills as innate due to the personal experiences that an individual goes through especially in their early childhood. However, I do not refute the essence of educational strategies that are geared towards the impartation of the skills since individuals differ in terms of experiences.
What surprises in the Introduction of “How Children Succeed”
Tough approaches the issue of children’s success from an objective approach. It is surprising that the studies that he conducts can be validated in explaining how stress and trauma among children contribute to failure. He posits, “…children who grow up in stressful environments generally find it harder to concentrate, harder to sit still, harder to rebound from disappointments, and harder to follow directions” (Tough, 2013, p. 17). The society generalizes that poverty is the obvious factor for children’s failure in education. In this regard, the aspect of stress brings new light to the topic as seen in various events in the book.
Reference
Tough, P. (2013). How Children Succeed: Grit, Curiosity, and the Hidden Power of Character. New York, NY: Random House Books.