A beautiful, long, investigative article into how children actually succeed into adulthood. Hint: it's not test taking prowess.

What are the qualities that help define a successful individual, that give them advantage as they enter a more independent lifestyle in college? Persistence, self-control, curiosity, conscientiousness, grit, and self-control. Paul Tough approached these personality traits across various backgrounds: both advantaged children and children that have grown up in challenging circumstances all around the country. Tough finds that children that learn to manage and learn from failure through the personality traits listed above are much better suited for success in the long run. This ability is something that balances out the inequalities between the haves and have-nots.

Side note: While tests provide nicely packaged results for politicians and colleges, grades are still an indicator of success. Revealing more than mastery of content, grades demonstrate perseverance, time management, and good study habits.

Quotes:

"Parents and other caregivers who are able to form close, nurturing relationships with their children can foster resilience in them that protects them from many of the worst effects of a hard early environment [28]...The early nurturing attention from their mothers had fostered in them a resilience that acted as a protective buffer against stress" (37).

"Wealthy parents today are more likely than others to be emotionally distant from their children while at the same time insisting on high levels of achievement, a potentially toxic blend of influences that can create 'intense feeling of shame and hopelessness' in affluent children" (82).

"Here's one way of looking at character: It can function as a substitute for the social safety net that students at Riverdale [a rich, affluent school] enjoy--the support from their families and schools and culture that protects them from the consequences of occasionally detours and mistakes and bad decisions" (103).

"Not long ago, the United States led the world in producing college graduates, now it leads the world in producing college dropouts" (150).