When Grit Isn't Enough

When Grit Isn't Enough does a brilliant job of dismembering the prevailing fallacies about what makes for student success in higher education. Seamlessly weaving together stories and analysis, veteran educator Linda Nathan shows how, for poor, minority, and first-gen students, money (more precisely, the lack of money) and race do matter, and how it's fatuous to tell students on the cusp that, to make it, all they have to do is buckle down. When Grit Isn't Enough is both a powerful indictment of higher education and a blueprint for reform. If you read one book on education this season, make it this one. --David L. Kirp, Professor of the Graduate School, University of California at Berkeley, and contributing writer, New York Times <p/> For those who are serious about using education to serve as a vehicle for lifting people out of poverty, this book provides a sobering explanation of why it is so hard to do. Linda Nathan uses her many years of experience leading a successful urban high school to draw attention to the myriad of obstacles that so often thwart even the best-prepared and most ambitious students from achieving their goals. In doing so, she reminds us that it takes more than upbeat slogans and cheerleading to use education as a means to climb out of poverty. Insightful, revealing, and at times heart wrenching, this book is an invaluable resource for those who hope to use education to transform the lives of our most vulnerable youth. --Pedro A. Noguera, PhD, Distinguished Professor of Education, UCLA Graduate School of Education & Information Studies