The Years That Matter Most

The author of the New York Times and international bestseller How Children Succeed reveals the growing social crisis in universities

[A] readable kiss-and-tell study . . . Tough finds that higher education, which has the potential to increase upward mobility, has become an obstacle that perpetuates social rigidity. The poor remain poor and the rich get richer . . . this study is laced with deep anger

[An] important new book on the broken promises of higher education . . . heart-rending.

In this fascinating study, education journalist Tough argues persuasively that access to an elite college education, which in the US is popularly believed to be a meritocratically distributed social equalizer, is in fact distributed in ways that reinforce existing economic divisions . . . This well-written and persuasive book is likely to make a splash.

Indelible and extraordinary, a powerful reckoning with just how far we’ve allowed reality to drift from our ideals. It’s difficult to overstate the importance of higher education to the present moment.

Tara Westover, New York Times Book Review

Paul Tough’s previous book, How Children Succeed, spent more than a year on the New York Times hardcover and paperback bestseller lists and was translated into 27 lan­guages. He is a contributing writ­er to the New York Times Magazine and a reg­ular contributor to the public-radio programme This American Life. You can learn more about his work at paultough.com and follow him on Twitter: @paultough.

What has gone wrong in our universities? And how do we make it right? 
 
When Amy applied to university, she thought she’d be judged purely on her merits. But she never thought that her family background would have as much impact on her future as her grades. 
 
When KiKi arrived at university, she knew she could be the only black woman in her class. But she didn’t know how out of place she would feel, nor how unwelcoming her peers would be. 
 
When Orry graduated from university, he was told he’d probably land a six-figure salary. But he wasn’t told he’d end up barely scraping a living wage, struggling to feed his children. 
 
Drawing on the stories of hundreds of American students, The Years That Matters Most is a revelatory account of a university system in crisis. 
 
Paul Tough, bestselling author of How Children Succeed, exposes a world where small-town colleges go bust, while the most prestigious raise billions every year; where overstretched admissions officers are forced to pick rich candidates over smart ones; where black and working-class students are left to sink or swim on uncaring campuses. Along the way, he uncovers cutting-edge research from the academics leading the way to a new kind of university – one where students succeed not because of their background, but because of the quality of their minds. 
 
The result is a call-to-arms for universities that work for everyone, and a manual for how we can make it happen.

What Works and Why

Helping Children Succeed

A handbook to guide parents and teachers through the science of helping children succeed

Around the world, countries are embracing early-childhood projects, opening snazzy centres and dispatching home visitors. But too many projects are of poor quality. Mr Tough shows that it need not be this way.

Packed with . . .  research-based insights into addressing students’ core social and emotional needs. For the past decade or more Tough has been one of the pre-eminent reporters translating education research for public consumption. His new, slim book is no exception, and it contains some surprises for fans of his previous work.

This book upends everything we thought we knew about where grit comes from and how to get it.

Tough is adept at translating academic jargon into precise, accessible prose . . . Tough promotes [his argument] so persuasively.

A thought-provoking new book . . . An important step in the right direction.

When author Paul Tough released How Children Succeed: Grit, Curiosity, and the Hidden Power of Character in 2012, it spent more than a year on the New York Times bestseller lists and was translated into 27 languages . . . Now he’s back with a new book that builds on his previous work. Helping Children Succeed: What Works and Why explains how parents, teachers and administrators can create environments to foster qualities that lead to success.

Knowledge@Wharton – The Magazine of Wharton Business School

Tough mixes hard truths and hopefulness . . . Tough offers limited proof that early stress can be overcome and that kids who get care when they are still very young can enter kindergarten at the same level as better-off kids.

In his international bestseller How Children Succeed, Paul Tough introduced us to research showing that personal qualities like perseverance, self-control and conscientiousness play a critical role in children’s success. Now, in Helping Children Succeed, he outlines the practical steps that adults – from parents and teachers to policymakers and philanthropists – can take to improve the chances of every child, however adverse their circumstances. And he mines the latest research in psychology and neuroscience to show how creating the right environments, both at home and at school, can instil personal qualities vital for future success.

How Children Succeed

Why character, confidence, and curiosity are more important to your child’s success than academic results. The New York Times bestseller. For all fans of Oliver James or Steve Biddulph’s Raising Boys, Raising Girls, and The Complete Secrets of Happy Children.

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

Every parent should read this book – and every policymaker, too.

Charles Duhigg, author of The Power of Habit

A timely and essential message … a brilliantly readable account of the growing evidence that inner resources count more than any amount of extra teaching support or after-school programmes when it comes to overcoming education disadvantage

Paul Tough is a contributing writer to New York Times Magazine, where he has written extensively about education, parenting, poverty, and politics, including cover stories on character education, the achievement gap, the post-Katrina school system in New Orleans, the 'No Child Left Behind' policy and charter schools. He has also been a contributor to This American Life, as part of which he reported on the Harlem Children Zone's 'Baby College', an 8-week program where young parents learn how to help their children become successful. His book about the Harlem's Children Zone is called Whatever It Takes. He lives in New York with his wife and his young son.

Why character, confidence, and curiosity are more important to your child’s success than academic results. The New York Times bestseller. For all fans of Oliver James or Steve Biddulph’s Raising Boys, Raising Girls, and The Complete Secrets of Happy Children. 
 
 
In a world where academic success can seem all-important in deciding our children’s success in adult life, Paul Tough sees things very differently. 
 
Instead of fixating on grades and exams, he argues that we, as parents, should be paying more attention to our children’s characters. 
 
Inner resilience, a sense of curiosity, the hidden power of confidence - these are the most important things we can teach our children, because it is these qualities that will enable them to live happy, fulfilled and successful lives. 
 
In this personal, thought-provoking and timely book, Paul Tough offers a clarion call to parents who are seeking to unlock their child’s true potential – and ensure they really succeed.

Paul Tough

A readable kiss-and-tell study . . . Tough finds that higher education, which has the potential to increase upward mobility, has become an obstacle that perpetuates social rigidity. The poor remain poor and the rich get richer . . . this study is laced with deep anger.

Humanizes the process of higher education . . . Fascinating stories about efforts to remediate class disparities in higher education

[Tough] writes movingly about students who are trying to navigate the confounding, expensive, and intimidating process of getting into and staying in college.

Important . . . Among his book's many vital contributions are its portraits of schools and programs that model a better way.

Paul Tough is a beautiful reporter and writer and a deeply moral guide to understanding the situation of children in our heartless meritocracy . . . A great book that should start a necessary conversation.

A stunning piece of work . . . A completely absorbing narrative with some very surprising, trenchant analysis . . . A devastating report card on the American dream. It's just a very special book.

Michael Pollen, author of HOW TO CHANGE YOUR MIND

A deeply reported and damning portrait of fraying American social mobility . . . A clear-eyed portrait of what a stacked game it really is.

Gorgeously reported. Vividly written. Utterly lucid. Paul Tough jumps skilfully between deeply engaging personal narratives and the bigger truths of higher education. The way he tells the stories of these students, it's impossible not to care about them and get angry on their behalf.

Ira Glass, host of NPR'S THIS AMERICAN LIFE

A comprehensive, moving account of the inequalities that block many poor, minority and first-generation students from realizing the benefits of a college education.

[Tough's] urgent account combines cogent data and artful storytelling to show how higher education has veered from its meritocratic ideals to exacerbate society's inequality.

How universities are creating a more unequal world - and what to do about it

'Indelible and extraordinary, a powerful reckoning with just how far we've allowed reality to drift from our ideals.' Tara Westover, New York Times Book Review 
 
We're told that universities are our greatest driver of social mobility. But it's a lie. 
 
The Inequality Machine is a damning exposé of how the university system ingrains injustice at every level of American society. 
 
Paul Tough, bestselling author of How Children Succeed, exposes a world where small-town colleges go bust, while the most prestigious raise billions every year; where overstretched admissions officers are forced to pick rich candidates over smart ones; where black and working-class students are left to sink or swim on uncaring campuses. Along the way, he uncovers cutting-edge research from the academics leading the way to a new kind of university - one where students succeed not because of their background, but because of the quality of their minds. 
 
The result is a call-to-arms for universities that work for everyone, and a manual for how we can make it happen. 
 
'Humanizes the process of higher education . . . Fascinating stories about efforts to remediate class disparities in higher education' New Yorker

Paul Tough

Praise for The Inequality Machine

A readable kiss-and-tell study . . . Tough finds that higher education, which has the potential to increase upward mobility, has become an obstacle that perpetuates social rigidity. The poor remain poor and t ...

Humanizes the process of higher education . . . Fascinating stories about efforts to remediate class disparities in higher education

[Tough] writes movingly about students who are trying to navigate the confounding, expensive, and intimidating process of getting into and staying in college.

A readable kiss-and-tell study . . . Tough finds that higher education, which has the potential to increase upward mobility, has become an obstacle that perpetuates social rigidity. The poor remain poor and t ...

Humanizes the process of higher education . . . Fascinating stories about efforts to remediate class disparities in higher education

[Tough] writes movingly about students who are trying to navigate the confounding, expensive, and intimidating process of getting into and staying in college.

A readable kiss-and-tell study . . . Tough finds that higher education, which has the potential to increase upward mobility, has become an obstacle that perpetuates social rigidity. The poor remain poor and t ...

Humanizes the process of higher education . . . Fascinating stories about efforts to remediate class disparities in higher education

[Tough] writes movingly about students who are trying to navigate the confounding, expensive, and intimidating process of getting into and staying in college.

Books by Paul Tough

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