Angela Duckworth: The Role Of Grit In Education

Have you ever wondered what makes up a successful person? You may ask yourself: Is it intelligence? Is it determination? Is it opportunity? Actually it is none of these. It is grit. Having grit is very important; it is the key to success after all. Angela Lee Duckworth once stated in her TEDTalk The Key to Success? Grit "...One characteristic emerged as a significant predictor of success... It was grit. Grit is passion and perseverance for very long term goals. Grit is having stamina. Grit is sticking with your future, day in and day out, not just for the week, not just for the month, but for years; and working really hard to make that future a reality.” Grit is just basically being focused on one thing and working on that one thing instead of always

Angela Lee Duckworth defines grit as “passion and perseverance to pursue long term goals” (Duckworth and Winkler, True Grit). Grit is putting your mind towards a goal and not to give up, no matter what obstacle that stands in front of you. By becoming a gritty individual, a person gains courage within their self. Having courage, people manage fear of failure and being true within oneself to aim for things they would have never thought they could achieve. Grit is to aspire and succeed in ones future goals in college. Grit is to help maintain effort and interest over time, also to stay committed in spite of adversity. In Duckworth’s studies she showed how gritty people are more likely to become successful than talented people. In a study conducted

What is Grit? Grit is passion. Grit is perseverance. Grit is what everyone including teachers and students should possess. Along with passion and perseverance, to me, in order for one to possess grit in their life, they must be determined and focused no matter what obstacle life may throw at them. Life is hard, but; resilience is key in order to stay determined and focused in the worst of times.

When discussing grit, it is important that one understands both sides of the argument. The persistence to complete a goal and the ability to endure adversity is the core of what it means to have grit. Growing up, children were often told the common phrase, “If at first, you don't succeed try, try, again”. This quote is often used to teach children to never give up, a way to ensure that they can triumph over adversity and grow upon their grit. The discussion of grit has grown over the past couple of years with advocators of grit like, Angela Duckworth, having written books and doing lectures on this topic. The same can be said for critics of grit, like David Denby, who has done articles for “The New Yorker”, criticizing the value of just

The Merriam-Webster Dictionary gives many different definitions defining the word “grit”. A definition that caught my attention was “unyielding courage in the face of hardship or danger” .It gave me a personal reference as to reaching a goal, you have to be faced with challenges that you’ll need to conquer with grit being included. In Angela Lee Duckworth’s TED Talk, “Grit: The Power of Passion and Perseverance,” she claims that having students being pushed to the max is the only way to see the full extent of grit, and I agree with Duckworth. I was able to demonstrate grit on becoming a better basketball play after not making the team my sophomore year of high school. Ever since I was disappointed in my results of not making the team, I had told myself this wasn’t going to mean I was done playing basketball .I gave myself perseverance in knowing I could make it next year with motivation.

Deborah Perkins-Gough the author of this interview is the senior editor at ASCD (Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development). Ms. Perkins Gough attended William and Mary majored in Education Management and she lives in the Washington D.C. Metro Area.

Grit, what is this? Is it success, is it failure, or is it talent? As Angela Duckworth said “Grit is passion and perseverance for very long-term goals. Grit is having stamina. Grit is sticking with your future, day-in and day-out. Not just for the week, not just for the month, but for years. And working really hard to make that future a reality. Grit is living life like it’s a marathon, not a sprint.” Grit is a combination of strength, persistence, focus, and dedication that helps a person to maintain the optimism and discipline needed to persevere in their goals even if they are head to head with failure. Grit does not depend on talent, IQ, or success. Grit is the ability to fail and learn from your mistake, in order to come back next

The idea of grit is to be used to help students improve on goals they’ve made, but in the The Downside of Grit by Alfie Kohn he would argue that somethings are better left alone instead of trying to pursue them and achieving them with little success. Kohn claims that grit can be counterproductive because anyone could be continuing something that doesn’t make them content with the outcome. He also discusses about how people with grit could experience issues with psychological health when you try over and over again and end up with continuous failure. It would be better to find an alternative pathway that would cause less stress, and end with success. Another argument that Kohn has is against the reliability of the research done on grit doesn’t rely on evidence. It

Grit is a predictor of academic, professional, and personal success. Grit can be defined as strength of character or the ability to overcome failure and continue to work toward success. People with grit are not always the people with the most natural ability, but their work ethic and ability to overcome obstacles allows them to achieve success. Grit is a very valuable characteristic in almost any venture, as it gives someone an advantage in overcoming the inevitable obstacles they will face. However, grit is much easier adopted when an individual has a growth mindset.

Grit is the ability to accomplish long term goals intercorrelated with two sub factors; consistency of interests and determination. The grit variable predicts an individual’s success in stressful struggles. The study measured this variable using the Short Grit Scale by (Duckworth & Quinn, 2009). Students with higher levels

Duckworth built credibility by saying that she went to graduate school to become a psychologist and started studying kids and adults in all kinds of super challenging settings, and in every study. Duckworth said,

Grit (n.) courage and resolve; strength of a character. Marcus Crede, an assistant professor of psychology at Iowa State University, effectively points out Angela Duckworth’s lack of Logos. In the article, “MacArthur 'Genius' Angela Duckworth Responds To A New Critique Of Grit”, “Duckworth admits to the charge of badly describing the size of her outcomes”. As a result, Duckworth used misleading outcomes of her findings to exaggerate the effect of Grit when looking at the broader populations of people. The authenticity of Duckworth’s findings is questionable, however, it is arguable whether Grit itself is unique. Crede challenges Duckworth as he tests Grit and conscientiousness which results between eighty and ninety percent correlation. In

In my group book, “Grit” by Angela Duckworth, perseverance was stressed as one of the two important aspects of being gritty, alongside passion. The idea of grit stemmed from the fact that people who put in time and effort into something that evokes a passion in

Growing up, children are often told the common phrase, “If at first, you don't succeed try, try, again…” (W.C. Fields). This is used to teach children to never give up, a way to ensure that they can triumph over adversity and grow upon their grit. Although, people usually forget the second part of that quote, “…Then quit. No use being a damn fool about it.” (W.C. Fields). The second half of the quote is a full contrast to the first half, this is telling children to give up and just stop trying. Those who give up are often thought of having no grit. Some wonder if grit is necessary for society, to be more specific if grit is something that should be taught in school, I feel that it should not. Students switch interests so often that it is hard for them to stick with the same interests as time passes. When a student is enthused about a subject, I see grit as a way for one to express their interests. When one’s passion is put to the test and it feels like there is no progress or no more enjoyment left in that passion is when true grit is shown. Those who support the idea of grit, like Angela Duckworth, believe that grit is a big factor in how one succeeds.