The Case For Gritty, Growing Students

After reading Seal’s article which stated that Americans often thought kids are born smart while Asians more often believed that studying makes a person smarter, I was reminded my own personal beliefs on intelligence and I realized that I have thought people could get smart by exerting effort since I was in the last year of elementary school in Vietnam. Therefore, I empathized with Seal’s attitude that success and achievement are a result of working hard. I could remember that I got this attitude when I was in an important final exam which decided where my middle school was in the next year that depended on my score. In this exam, the math test was an extremely difficult test for every student because it had a strange math problem which my classmates and I had never studied before. At first, I had spent for 2 hour to solve this problem, but I didn’t succeed. So, I wanted to give up. However, I was worry about my score and thought about my mom, who hoped that I could get the high score enough to enter a famous middle school. Since I didn’t want to disappoint my mom’s wish, I tried to solve this math problem again and again and again. Eventually, I was successful to solve

In the article, the author highlights differing views on the nature of intelligence. He states that in Asian cultures intelligence is something that they must acquire or work to achieve; whereas, western cultures view it as something one is born with. Neither of these views is necessarily incorrect however, I believe the best outlook lies somewhere in between. People are born with natural gifts and skills. Therefore, certain subjects come very easily to them. Nevertheless, it is possible for one to increase his skill by applying himself.

To enjoy academic success, you must consistently exhibit qualities such as perseverance, diligence, and tenacity; both in and outside of the classroom. When you are inside of a classroom, it is of utmost importance to grant your teacher your full attention. Even the most brilliant of minds find difficulty in achieving success if they do not adhere themselves to actively attempting to learn material that is covered in their classes. Contrary to popular belief, being a ‘genius’ is not required to have good grades. Anyone of average intelligence can achieve classroom success through perseverance and work ethic, although there is truth in the assumption that obtaining stellar grades may be more effortless for those with higher levels of intelligence.

With regard to the first assumption that Dweck disproves, she states that many teachers believe that praising children for their intelligence “builds their confidence and motivation to learn” (Dweck 34). However, from her point of view, this is a mistake as far as students tend to lose the wish to develop their intelligence and to advance. At the same time, this is connected with the view of many teachers that the intelligence is inherent feature and cannot be developed or improved. However, the author disproves these two ideas by referring to the idea of fixed and growth mindset.

Duckworth defines grit as “having resilience in the face of failure, but also having deep commitments that you remain loyal to over many years.” She went on to discuss how it is not just being smart that makes a person successful but having grit. After listening to the radio conversation, I realized that many people in my life have pushed me to have grit, we just did not know it was called “grit” at the time. For example, my mom always told me it does not matter how smart you are to get in to college and have good grades, what matters having determination and being motivated to do the work. Also, my elementary basketball coach always wanted her players to give 110% in a game. It did not matter whether we had natural talent or not, what mattered was

I am intrigued by Angela Duckworth’s ideology about GRIT and the notion of the growth mindset. I strongly agree with her belief that anyone can be successful if they work hard with passion and perseverance. Practice and a strong work ethic can always make a person better. Furthermore, I view it as an investment of your time and effort that you put aside for yourself to make your dreams a reality. I am a firm believer that everyone has the ability to achieve success if you put your mind and your heart to it. With passion, motivation and determination, you can always improve your situation and get further than you were before. You can always progress.

According to Duckworth came to feel it was not as relevant when it came to outstanding achievement people who accomplish great things. The growth mindset with effort certainly effort is key to achievements I think she really means that the more you show effort then you can get better grades.. She also said but most people do not know that when they practice and learn things because when they learn things and they might not practice for it but she wants them to show effort. Like Angela Duckworth said that the idea of grit and self control is that you get that through failure, Randolph explained “Students believe that effort will help you improve to your future.” He said that because I think this quote is really good quote because no one will

Albert Einstein once said "everybody is a genius. But if you judge a fish by its ability to climb a tree, it will live its whole existence thinking it is stupid". There are many students who relate to that fish believing they are unintelligent and useless. Believing that they cannot possibly succeed in the education system. The education system is failing to teach students and bring out their maximum potential. Everyday thousands of students drop out of school because they are failing to succeed. Gerald Graff argues in his article “Hidden Intellectualism” that the educational institution are failing to nurture students. Therefore, Graff believes that some students would be more willing to learn and have better success if they were taught things that interest them rather than subjects that interest the teachers. I agree with Graff because he writes about the misconception of intellectualism and how individuals think that solely the "geeks or the nerds" can have academic success. Individuals are completely forgetting that some students hidden intellectualism is found not in book smarts, but rather street smarts, suggesting that teachers should tap into students hidden intellectualism so that it can no longer be hidden.

To be successful at anything in life one needs to have and maintain a proper mindset. By applying the Grit and Growth mindset this year at school, I feel that I can achieve whatever I set my mind and dedication to. To achieve the maximum results with this type of mindset, I need to move out of my comfort zone. Some people say I think I can while others say I know I can. The funny thing is both people are usually right! This year my mindset is I know I can.

Grit is apart of many people they are born with it and learned by your environment or parents. For example, one of duckworth's study involved cadets at west point and she stats "Cadets who scored a standard deviation higher than average on the Grit–Scale were 99% more likely to complete summer training,"As a result this shows how cadets need to be to complete the summer training. Showing that the cadets need to be higher than average on the grit scale to complete the training. Another example of the camp is when she states, “This is a technical point, but to simplify, it's the odds of making it through that improved by 99 percent. Most lay people, though, would interpret "99% more likely" as meaning that your chances of getting through bounced,

However, Giel expresses later in the article that self-control is not the only factor of success and then introduces the two traits described by Duckworth as passion and perseverance, or grit. Duckworth arrived at this conclusion after carefully studying psychologist Catherine Morris Cox’s findings on world recognized geniuses such as Albert Einstein and Leonardo Da Vinci. If these people, who are prodigies in their respective fields, all possess these similar attributes, then logic may follow that these qualities may indeed be the key to

Have you ever studied for a test only to find out that the grade you got is not what you expected it to be and that your friend who had practice for a sport, an interview and who was working on a project days before the test got a high grade on the test? Well according to Douglas Barton individuals often fall into misconception, on the idea that performance on tests and natural intelligence are the same and that some of us are just more intellectually gifted. Barton in his “What do top students do differently?” a TEDx youth talk points out that success in individual performance comes from the dedication and initiative to go beyond what the average student does.

An increment in college drop out rates with the inability to do well in courses has been on the receiving end of many theories as well as research experiments. In “Implicit Theories of Intelligence Predict Achievement Across an Adolescent Transition” Blackwell, Trzeniewski, Dweck (2007) state that some people believe that intelligence is more of an “entity” while others think of it as “incremental”.

“The function of education is to teach one to think intensively and to think critically. Intelligence plus character - that is the goal of true education.”

Graff says that putting students in classes in the contemporary system is wasting and limiting students’ potential and creativity (198). Complaining that intellects do not meet the success standard set by schools, Graff proves that schools limit the intellect students can achieve in their academic career (198-199).