How Children Succeed: Grit, Curiosity, and the Hidden Power of Character

Chapter 2 delves into character development and its role in academic achievement, drawing on the experiences of KIPP Academy and Riverdale Country School to illuminate the complexities of nurturing noncognitive skills in students.

KIPP Academy was founded by David Levin, a Yale University graduate dedicated to transforming students from underperforming Bronx public schools into college-bound scholars. Despite KIPP’s rigorous academic program and emphasis on college preparation, Levin observed that academic success alone did not guarantee college persistence and completion. Instead, traits like optimism, resilience, and social agility played a crucial role in determining students’ long-term outcomes. This observation led Levin to question the traditional focus on academic achievement and to explore the concept of character strengths, which he believed to be essential for success in college and beyond. Inspired by positive psychology, and in particular Martin Seligman’s book Learned Optimism (1990), Levin reassessed his approach to education, considering how to cultivate noncognitive skills in his students.

In contrast, Riverdale Country School is an institution for a privileged elite: “There are no uniforms, technically, but the middle- and high-school students share a studiously casual wardrobe of Abercrombie and Fitch jackets and North Face backpacks” (55). For these students, education is perhaps less about learning and more about maintaining a social status: “today’s student body draws heavily from the Upper East Side and the tonier precincts of Westchester County; it is the kind of place members of the establishment send their kids so they can learn to be members of the establishment” (55).