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Grit Essay

Decent Essays

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 …show more content…

This describes grit and passion as intertwined with one another, when someone is gritty they could also be passionate about whatever they are doing.

While those that advocate for grit use it to measure a person’s success, many critics of grit ask if grit alone is the reason for a person’s success. Such critics, like Daniel Engber, a columnist for “Slate”, criticize grit as just rebrands of past ideal. He also criticizes Duckworth’s research, especially her test with the West Point cadets. Engber explains that three-fourths of students that fail West Point usually failed after completing the “Beast” and that her study was just a special case. Other factors, then grit could have been the reason some of those students failed out of West Point, even then those students must have been on top of them to get that far at West Point. This comes to another argument against grit, environment. Daniel Denby, a writer for “The New Yorker”, comments how grit can be affected by the environment and opportunities a child is given. If a child grows up with having a real challenge in their life, either due to poor parenting or their environment than when faced with challenges in life they will not know how to handle it because they faced it before. In addition, Denby argues by growing up in harsh neighborhoods grit becomes harder for children. In poorer neighborhoods, toughing it through such harsh environments can

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