Grit, Discipline and Grades

I posted a couple of weeks ago about the importance of students learning to not give up and develop a sense of stickwithitness in order for them to be successful not only in school but also in their professional lives or college.  In reading from Paul Tough's book How Children Succeed and from the work of psychologist Angela Duckworth, some of the traits that have made students successful in school and beyond have been identified.  Angela Duckworth identified the leading trait for success as Grit.  She argues that for students to be successful, they must develop the character trait of grit, of being able to stick with something even when it is hard or unpleasant.  Looking at some of the most successful people in history, Abraham Lincoln, Albert Einstein, Thomas Edison, Steve Jobs, Bill Gates, they all possessed a high level of grit.  They didn't give up even in the face of multiple failures.  We need to help our students develop this grit, this attitude of not giving up no matter what. 

The second part of this post goes along with this idea of grit.  Students in order to be successful much also have discipline.  When I say discipline, I am not talking about what I do with students who are in trouble all day as an Assistant Principal.  I am referencing more to the self control that one needs to develop.  I think of a successful football team and how they play with discipline.  I am not an Alabama football fan, but it is no surprise that Nick Saban's football teams have won 3 out of the last 4 national titles.  His team doesn't make mistakes.  They play disciplined football.  They don't miss assignments or try to make the flashy play.  They do the small and simple things that they need to win.  They play disciplined football.  In order for our students to be successful, they must demonstrate the same level of discipline.  They must be able to work through difficult situation and demonstrate self control.  In Tough's book, Duckworth mentions in her research a study from the 60's called the Marshmallow Experiment.  The Marshmallow Experiment is a research experiment in which researchers put small children through a challenge.  The kids were given a marshmallow but told if they could wait and not eat the marshmallow for 15 minutes, they would be given two marshmallows.  There were some kids that waited and some who didn't.  The research became interesting in that years later, as the researchers followed up with the kids years later, those kids who were able to wait for the second marshmallow in general made higher salaries, graduated from college more quickly, and had better family relationships.  Self Control and Discipline proved to be a key component to being successful not only in school but in life. 

Because of this, I think that character education is very important.  Schools cannot simply teach content and students have to learn more that Reading, Writing and Arithmetic.  If we are to teach life superheroes and prepare our students to be successful in life, they must learn certain character traits that will set them up for success.  Which bring me to my final point.  Grades. I know that in many circumstances, grading policies are not necessarily the most accurate assessment of student learning or student mastery of content.  The interesting thing, however, is grades are the number 1 indicator of how likely a student is to graduate college or not.  SAT and ACT scores are traditionally viewed as more important by universities for admissions and scholarships, but GPA is a far more accurate indicator of student success in college. Why is that?  If ACT and SAT theoretically measure student mastery of content more accurately that GPA which is subjective to the schools and teachers the students have, why is GPA more accurate in assessing student success in colleges?  What do grades measure if they are not measuring learning?  For students to get successful grades, they do not need to have great mastery of the content in many circumstances.  It does however require high levels of grit and self control.  So while I think our grading policies can be changed to better reflect how effectively students are learning content, there is something to be said for students who are disciplined enough to stick with something and not accept anything but a high grade.  I know that this is kind of an old school attitude toward education, but there is something to be said for kids who are willing to stick with difficult tasks and not accept anything less that excellence in their work.  The challenge is for us as educators to teach these important traits to our students beginning at a young age.  It has to be about more than just content.