Analysis Of What If The Secret To Success Is Failure? By Paul Tough

In “What if the Secret to Success is Failure?” Paul Tough illustrates that teaching grit in schools can foster students to be successful in life after college. Tough introduces the audience to two different types of schools and their headmasters that are trying to instill grit in their students: Riverdale, a private school, and KIPP, a public school. He includes Angela Duckworth’s grit scale to support their thesis. Tough wants to inform society that a safety net for children can hinder their own personal success in life. However, Tough does not convince me because his article relied on sources that were not persuasive, they lacked evidence and contained fallacies. Tough illustrates his first source Dominic Randolph, the headmaster of the private school, Riverdale, as a man who likes to destroy traditional beliefs, he contradicts his own belief at the same time while making a hasty generalization …show more content…
There are two reasons why I feel Levin is not a reliable source for Tough’s article. First Levin’s character report cards are unproven to increase student’s grit. Secondly KIPP’s goal of college graduates falls short from what they stated. This is why I feel Levin is not a supportive source. Levin proclaims “that 75 percent of KIPP alumni will graduate from a four-year college, and 100 percent will be prepared for a stable career” (3). However, only 33 percent of KIPP alumni graduated from colleges. Can he prove that 100 percent of them are capable of holding a career? His method of running KIPP middle school is unsuccessful. Levin wanted to establish a character report card for the students of KIPP. Although he sounds dedicated to the idea I feel this is also another thing that he falls short of because he doesn't prove how the character report cards benefit the students afterward. Levin is an unreliable source because he shows no proof that his credibility lives up to the