In this interview, Paul Tough – author of How Children Succeed and other works – redefines “character” as a collection of skills and habits that children can all practice, learn and improve, not least at school.
“Character” refers to skills like the ability to persist, bounce back after a failure, or deal well with a confrontation. “They’re really about how we think of ourselves,” he says.
According to Paul Tough, there are two ways to develop these skills – through self-examination and by being given opportunities to challenge them, even improving them through failure. Skills’ assessment depends on long-term outcomes rather than next week’s test.