Should Kids Be Judged To Be Successful?

558 Words2 Pages

Nice guys do finish first, And it starts in kindergarten Well, what do you know? According to recent research from the American Journal of Public Health kids who are nice, well-behaved and polite go on to succeed at a higher rate than their surly, little-punk counterparts. All those stereotypes of ruthless, cold-hearted schemers rising to the top are not that accurate – at least if you look at personality traits of kids who go on to be successful. According to an article on the study published in USA Today July 17, kids judged to have good “social competence” go on to achieve healthy, economically viable lifestyles ahead of those who are judged to have weaker social skills. The study, which followed 750 kids for 20 years, (until they were 25 years old) found that how the children behaved in the youngest school grades gave one of the best predictors …show more content…

These skills, which needless to say many adults still lack, were thought to be just as important as academic grades as an indicator of who would go on to a good job and who would end up behind bars. The study found that kids who had the basic social skills were more likely to have graduated from college and be holding full time jobs during the study period. Kids that had been judged to have weak social skills were more likely to have substance abuse problems, require public assistance, to have been arrested and to be unemployed. Parents who have some ill-tempered badger of a child at home can take heart that the researchers found these social skills, just like reading and math, can be improved at any point to improve the chances with later success. There is a certain amount of justice in this study’s findings. The kids that win the behavior award also stand a better chance of winning in life over the

Open Document