Paul Tough

Paul Tough has devoted his career to understanding the determining factors behind student success. His most recent work takes a deep dive into psychology and the way we focus, where he forces us to question our preconceived notions surrounding attention. More people than ever are being diagnosed with ADHD, but are we really at an attention deficit? Tough’s ground breaking research offers a different perspective—the world is changing, there’s more stimuli than ever before. Maybe a wandering mind—in ourselves or in our children—isn’t a sign of deficit or disorder at all, but simply a different way of experiencing the world.

In his explosive book The Inequality Machine, Paul Tough examines the inequalities in higher education from all angles—from Black enrollment rates stalling at elite schools, to College Board officials scrambling to defend the SAT in the face of mounting evidence that it favors the wealthy. A mix of cutting-edge research and personal accounts from students, this book is one that will change the way readers think—not just about education, but about America itself. The Inequality Machine has been praised in The New Yorker, The Chicago Tribune, and The New York Times Book Review. Tara Westover, author of the bestselling memoir Education, calls it “Indelible and extraordinary, a powerful reckoning with just how far we’ve allowed reality to drift from our ideals.”

In his earlier book How Children Succeed—which spent over a year on the New York Times bestseller list—Tough challenges the belief that intelligence, endlessly measured by test scores, is the sole predictor of how well a child will do in school and in life. His follow-up, Helping Children Succeed: What Works and Why, offers a practical guidebook for educators, parents, and community groups dedicated to improving the lives of children growing up in adversity, using all-new strategies based on the emerging science of success. Tough ushers in a tidal change in thinking with his argument that curiosity, conscientiousness, optimism, self-control, and grit are better indicators of success than IQ. He identifies a phenomenon in our culture that he calls the “adversity gap”: Some kids, especially those growing up in poverty, simply have too much adversity in their lives, and others, especially those growing up in affluence, actually experience too little. Tough says children develop character strengths when they persevere through adversity. And it’s our job as adults in their homes, schools, and communities to give them the support and guidance they need to manage and grow from those setbacks and disappointments.

Tough is also the author of Whatever It Takes: Geoffrey Canada’s Quest to Change Harlem and America, which chronicled the inspiring story of the Harlem Children’s Zone. He is a contributing writer to The New York Times Magazine, where he has written cover articles about first-generation college students, character education, and OxyContin addiction in Appalachia, among other topics. He has also contributed stories to This American Life, The New Yorker, The Atlantic, Esquire, and GQ.