The Inquality Machine
How College Divides Us
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The power of higher education to change a student's life is strongly linked to their socioeconomic status.
In his latest book The Inequality Machine, New York Times bestselling author Paul Tough examines how the landscape of higher education has shifted. Does college still provide real opportunities for young people to achieve social mobility? Or is it a system designed to protect the interests of the privileged? Drawing on new research, personal travels, and stories of students trying to find their way, Tough reveals the hidden truths of how the system works and whom it really works for.
“Gorgeously reported. Vividly written. Utterly lucid. Paul Tough jumps skillfully 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, This American LifeThough many American colleges have claimed to make diversity and inclusion a priority, few have achieved it in their own student bodies. 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.” As the coronavirus pandemic, economic fallout, and racial unrest continue to sweep the nation, low-income students find themselves facing new barriers to education—making Tough’s hard-won insights timelier and more urgent than ever before.
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.
“Paul Tough facilitated our educators retreat for dozens of school superintendents, university deans, directors of education organizations and staff members from the Ohio Department of Education. He not only used a very cohesive and thoughtful PowerPoint presentation format but also posed excellent inquiry questions for table discussion. Mr. Tough referred to examples from his book, challenged the audience to think about non-cognitive traits, and cited background research at appropriate times. One participant stated, ‘The conversation was outstanding. It renewed my faith that the right combination of adult support, nurturing, teaching and coaching can overcome the greatest of obstacles.’ The educators, who attended this retreat, gave it some of the highest ratings.”
Martha Holden Jennings Foundation“Thank you for participating in the PBS and CPB sponsored breakfast ‘Our Kids, Our Communities, Our Future’ at the PBS Annual Meeting in San Francisco. Your presentation about How Children Succeed was funny, informative and helped to demonstrate the importance of being a champion and mentor to underserved children, and the power of public media to foster engagement. I continue to hear from station leadership and project managers who were inspired by your address and are excited to think differently about ways to engage their community. Thank you again for illuminating our thoughts with your research and anecdotes.”
Corporation for Public BroadcastingWhy are young people today so stressed out about getting into their preferred school? In his latest book, The Inequality Machine, Paul Tough investigates higher education and reveals how complicated, crazy, and unfair the college admissions system has become. In this talk, he argues that our obsessive focus on getting our kids into prestigious colleges actually undermines the kind of character strengths that we want to develop in our children. The admissions anxiety that dominates many schools and communities often has the effect of turning complex, idealistic teenagers into stressed-out, competitive monomaniacs. Tough locates the roots of that madness in recent shifts in the economy and higher education, and proposes solutions that schools and parents—and society as a whole—can take to bring sanity back to the process of college admissions.
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