Grit: What Is It? Should It Be Taught? Does Everybody Have It?

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Some people give up. Some people don't. From radio interviews, to newspaper articles, to U.S. Department of Education documents, one learns that people who do not give up might have a quality called grit. Grit is important to a student's success in life, but maybe grit is something teachers can leave out of the curriculum. After all, when one examines the evidence, it becomes apparent that everyone has grit to some degree or another.
At the beginning of a discussion about the importance of grit, it is crucial to first define grit. Angela Duckworth, a psychology professor at the University of Pennsylvania, coined the term grit (Smith, 2). "Experts define grit as persistence, determination and resilience..." (Smith, 1). Basically, grit is that quality that people have that allows them to move on in the face of a challenge. When a person meets up with that metaphorical "brick wall," they climb it or blast a hole through it. A person with grit will not be stopped on their way to victory. Clearly, after one knows what grit actually is, one can see how important grit is to success.
Many experts have searched for the key to student success. One expert, Dominic Randolph, headmaster at Riverdale Country School, believes that character is the key to student success (Tough, 2). Still, after working for years to develop character in their students, Randolph and his partner David Levin, found that character alone was not enough. The majority of students that went through the character training and then enrolled in college ended up dropping out of college after things got tough (Tough, 4). Apparently, they were lacking in a quality called grit. Grit does appear to be the key to student success.
Angela Duckworth developed the Gr...

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...ather than teaching grit. Students need to know that they can make their own paths in life. They can all be successful. After all, everyone has grit. Every once in a while, though, you just might need to encourage someone to get grittier.

Works Cited

Newsela staff. “University aims to create college-going culture among kids.” The Seattle
Times, February 27, 2014: 1-3.
Shechtman, Nicole, et al. Promoting Grit, Tenacity, and Perseverance: Critical Factors for
Success in the 21st Century. U.S. Department of Education, Office of Educational
Technology, 2013.
Smith, Tovia. “Does Teaching Kids To Get ‘Gritty’ Help Them Get Ahead?” NPR.org..
3/19/2014: 8. http://www.npr.org/2014/03/17/290089998/does-teaching-kids-to-get-gritty-help-them-get-ahead.
Tough, Paul. “What if the Secret to Success Is Failure?” The New York Times, September 14,
2011: 1-14.

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