| 9780544944480 |
| 0544944488 |
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Library | Material Type | Call Number | Shelf Location | Status | Item Holds |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Searching... East Library | Book | 378.198 TOUG | Nonfiction | Searching... Unknown | Searching... Unavailable |
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Summary
Summary
"Indelible and extraordinary."--Tara Westover, author of Educated: A Memoir, New York Times Book Review
A New York Times Book Review Editors' Choice
The best-selling author of How Children Succeed returns with a powerful, mind-changing inquiry into higher education in the United States
Does college still work? Is the system designed just to protect the privileged and leave everyone else behind? Or can a college education today provide real opportunity to young Americans seeking to improve their station in life?
The Years That Matter Most tells the stories of students trying to find their way, with hope, joy, and frustration, through the application process and into college. Drawing on new research, the book reveals how the landscape of higher education has shifted in recent decades and exposes the hidden truths of how the system works and whom it works for. And it introduces us to the people who really make higher education go: admissions directors trying to balance the class and balance the budget, College Board officials scrambling to defend the SAT in the face of mounting evidence that it favors the wealthy, researchers working to unlock the mysteries of the college-student brain, and educators trying to transform potential dropouts into successful graduates.
With insight, humor, and passion, Paul Tough takes readers on a journey from Ivy League seminar rooms to community college welding shops, from giant public flagship universities to tiny experimental storefront colleges. Whether you are facing your own decision about college or simply care about the American promise of social mobility, The Years That Matter Most will change the way you think--not just about higher education, but about the nation itself.
Author Notes
Paul Tough is the author of three previous books, including the best-selling How Children Succeed: Grit, Curiosity, and the Hidden Power of Character , which has been translated into twenty-seven languages. He is a contributing writer to the New York Times Magazine , a regular contributor to This American Life , and an acclaimed public speaker on education, inequality, and success. Tough lives in Austin, Texas, and Montauk, New York. For more information, please visit paultough.com.
Reviews (3)
Publisher's Weekly Review
In this fascinating study, education journalist Tough (How Children Succeed) argues persuasively that access to an elite college education, which in the U.S. is popularly believed to be a meritocratically distributed social equalizer, is in fact distributed in ways that reinforce existing economic divisions. In the U.S., a college degree remains both a key to a secure job and a cherished ideal for many, especially high-achieving low-income students. But racially marginalized and low-income students face barriers to accessing that economic mobility, among them the "fickle and unpredictable" nature of admissions calculations; the income-dependent nature of SAT scores; the culture shock and "profound disequilibrium" nonwhite, nonaffluent students experience at highly selective schools; and the difficulties low-income students face in remaining enrolled. Tough vividly illustrates these claims with rigorous readings of data and portraits of individual students, researchers, staff, and faculty. He examines initiatives that aim to level the playing field, and finds that great persistence and time-intensive mentoring and teaching are required for lower-income students to succeed. In the final chapters, he calls for politicians shaping educational policy and funding to promote more equitable structures, drawing parallels with the public high school movement and the GI bill. His analyses of data are sound, his portraits of students and teachers sympathetic, his argument neatly structured, and his topic one with wide appeal. This well-written and persuasive book is likely to make a splash. (Sept.) © Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.
Booklist Review
This is a dismaying look at how class, race, and economic status affect college education, from determining who gets in where to who eventually emerges with a diploma. Best-selling author Tough (How Children Succeed, 2012) pulls together research, statistics, and interviews to confirm entrenched practices: admissions are largely based on standardized test scores; graduates from elite colleges will make higher salaries than their contemporaries; most of the applicants admitted to elite schools are white and rich; minority scholarship students often feel inadequate and marginalized, and, as confirmed by current headlines, parents will do just about anything to get their kids into elite schools. Graduation rates echo these discrepancies. Affluent students generally receive diplomas, while students from economically disadvantaged backgrounds often drop out, despite acknowledging that they need college to improve their earning power. The worst news? Over the last decade, U.S. university graduation rates have remained stagnant. Tough does highlight a few successes, but overall, this is a sobering look at American higher education, and an appeal for change.--Kathleen McBroom Copyright 2010 Booklist
Library Journal Review
Journalist Tough (How Children Succeed) looks at the complex and unpredictable process of admission to and graduation from selective colleges to understand their effect on social mobility in the United States. He finds that Ivy League and other elite institutions have pledged to recruit and support talented low-income students. But these colleges' policies and environments continue to privilege wealthy white students and neglect programs that can mitigate the impact of disadvantage. Tough presents extensive and thoughtful interviews with low-income students working hard to succeed but with insufficient understanding or support. He asserts that College Board claims that SAT exams are no longer biased in favor of the wealthy are unfounded. VERDICT Drawing on broad reading and visits to campuses across the country, Tough's work offers an indictment of American society and political structures and persuasively argues that universities must fulfill the American commitment to equality of opportunity.--Elizabeth Hayford, formerly with Associated Coll. of the Midwest, Evanston, IL
