Growing with Grit
Growing with Grit
It’s a well-known fact that the best cure for a difficult day at work is to spend some time in the Beginning or Lower School, reconnecting with the joy of learning. So last week, I ventured down to the Lower School for the fourth-grade presentation of “Marvelous Mistakes,” performed by Mrs. Collins and Dr. Maharaj’s students. As I watched the students launch into a song called “The Power of Yet,” the ingenuity of the performance struck me. Our students were singing about iterative learning. They were singing about trial and error. They were singing about grit.
“Grit” has become a ubiquitous word in independent school circles, since the publishing of Angela Duckworth’s best-selling book, Grit: The Power of Passion and Perseverance. Grit is defined as “a positive, non-cognitive trait based on an individual’s perseverance of effort combined with the passion for a particular long-term goal or end state.” The commitment to addressing grit in the curricular setting has jump-started professional development sessions, and countless books and seminars. Educators around the globe widely accept that resilience and attention to long-term goals is a worthwhile pursuit. “Grit” in the classroom is where our children begin their academic journey. It is not uncommon to observe a child approach an activity for the first time, only to fail and start over right away. It would be surprising to see a child try to solve a Rubik’s Cube once and to never try again. Or to build a LEGO structure, see it collapse, and never return to the challenge. It is how we learn to walk, talk, read, and ride a bike. For educators, the question becomes how to take this nascent instinct, and nurture it into a competency.
I also spent a few moments in Ms. Randall’s Middle School history class where students debated the advantages and disadvantages of the Neolithic revolution. I observed students struggle with having done their best, yet still not prevailing. As these students were testing their argumentative skills, they were no doubt learning, some the hard way, that we often learn more from our losses than our wins. It is this process that is critical to growth: learning to balance our competitive disappointment with the drive to revisit choices, analyze mistakes, and improve. Once again, the power of “yet” was on display. These students, by grappling with adjusting their arguments, were internalizing grit.
During this same week, I had the pleasure of observing Ms. Cotter’s Upper School science students grapple with problem-solving. There was a musicality to the way they worked independently, sought clarification, and then returned to the process. It was evident that, once a student of The Meadows School has reached the halls of the Upper School, they have developed a healthy respect for iterative learning. They understand that the answer is important; but, it is not nearly as important as the process. They grow in their ability to withstand setbacks and to flourish. It is this trait that Dr. Duckworth would say is critical to leading a fulfilled life.
As much as grit is useful in starting conversations about perseverance and long-term goal setting, we must be careful to avoid false equivalencies and vagaries. Dr. Duckworth wasn’t saying that, regardless of conditions, a student with grit will thrive. Although some quarters of the academic world chose to advance that narrative, we recognize that grit, in a vacuum, has blind spots. We must account for disparate conditions and circumstances that our students live with to set them up for success. Not every student can grit their way to success, and institutions should account for that possibility. Dr. Anindya Kundu illustrates this point beautifully in his book, The Power of Student Agency. Dr. Kundu concludes that the strength-based ideations about “Grit” were insufficient to address the challenges presented to students with truly disadvantaged backgrounds. He adds that activating a student’s agency—their unique capacity for positive change—is critical to actualizing student potential. His takeaway is that: while nurturing student’s grit is a laudable pursuit, it is equally important that we remain attentive to the circumstances that limit our students' ability to activate their agency. Dr. Kundu’s contribution to this discussion was to remind us to not simply accept a student’s decision to walk away from a challenge as the absence of grit; but, to consider more thoughtfully if there were conditions that informed that decision beyond “quitting.”
As is so often the case, the Core Values of The Meadows School have successfully anticipated this delicate balance. Our pursuit of excellence calls for Scholarship to the same degree that it calls for Character and Community. Our mission is to inspire students to understand the role that trial-and-error plays in success; and, to understand that, in a world calling us toward instant gratification at every turn, it is those who persevere in their pursuit of long-term goals who lead the most fulfilling lives. Our role as educators in the community is to resist the urge to reduce our students' successes and failures to something as simple as grit, or the lack thereof. Instead, our role is to seek an understanding of how best to actualize this competency in every student that walks our halls. These are the lessons that our esteemed faculty know and live and those that a student of The Meadows School accumulates in their academic journey.
Joseph Carver
Chief Innovation Officer
“Grit” has become a ubiquitous word in independent school circles, since the publishing of Angela Duckworth’s best-selling book, Grit: The Power of Passion and Perseverance. Grit is defined as “a positive, non-cognitive trait based on an individual’s perseverance of effort combined with the passion for a particular long-term goal or end state.” The commitment to addressing grit in the curricular setting has jump-started professional development sessions, and countless books and seminars. Educators around the globe widely accept that resilience and attention to long-term goals is a worthwhile pursuit. “Grit” in the classroom is where our children begin their academic journey. It is not uncommon to observe a child approach an activity for the first time, only to fail and start over right away. It would be surprising to see a child try to solve a Rubik’s Cube once and to never try again. Or to build a LEGO structure, see it collapse, and never return to the challenge. It is how we learn to walk, talk, read, and ride a bike. For educators, the question becomes how to take this nascent instinct, and nurture it into a competency.
I also spent a few moments in Ms. Randall’s Middle School history class where students debated the advantages and disadvantages of the Neolithic revolution. I observed students struggle with having done their best, yet still not prevailing. As these students were testing their argumentative skills, they were no doubt learning, some the hard way, that we often learn more from our losses than our wins. It is this process that is critical to growth: learning to balance our competitive disappointment with the drive to revisit choices, analyze mistakes, and improve. Once again, the power of “yet” was on display. These students, by grappling with adjusting their arguments, were internalizing grit.
During this same week, I had the pleasure of observing Ms. Cotter’s Upper School science students grapple with problem-solving. There was a musicality to the way they worked independently, sought clarification, and then returned to the process. It was evident that, once a student of The Meadows School has reached the halls of the Upper School, they have developed a healthy respect for iterative learning. They understand that the answer is important; but, it is not nearly as important as the process. They grow in their ability to withstand setbacks and to flourish. It is this trait that Dr. Duckworth would say is critical to leading a fulfilled life.
As much as grit is useful in starting conversations about perseverance and long-term goal setting, we must be careful to avoid false equivalencies and vagaries. Dr. Duckworth wasn’t saying that, regardless of conditions, a student with grit will thrive. Although some quarters of the academic world chose to advance that narrative, we recognize that grit, in a vacuum, has blind spots. We must account for disparate conditions and circumstances that our students live with to set them up for success. Not every student can grit their way to success, and institutions should account for that possibility. Dr. Anindya Kundu illustrates this point beautifully in his book, The Power of Student Agency. Dr. Kundu concludes that the strength-based ideations about “Grit” were insufficient to address the challenges presented to students with truly disadvantaged backgrounds. He adds that activating a student’s agency—their unique capacity for positive change—is critical to actualizing student potential. His takeaway is that: while nurturing student’s grit is a laudable pursuit, it is equally important that we remain attentive to the circumstances that limit our students' ability to activate their agency. Dr. Kundu’s contribution to this discussion was to remind us to not simply accept a student’s decision to walk away from a challenge as the absence of grit; but, to consider more thoughtfully if there were conditions that informed that decision beyond “quitting.”
As is so often the case, the Core Values of The Meadows School have successfully anticipated this delicate balance. Our pursuit of excellence calls for Scholarship to the same degree that it calls for Character and Community. Our mission is to inspire students to understand the role that trial-and-error plays in success; and, to understand that, in a world calling us toward instant gratification at every turn, it is those who persevere in their pursuit of long-term goals who lead the most fulfilling lives. Our role as educators in the community is to resist the urge to reduce our students' successes and failures to something as simple as grit, or the lack thereof. Instead, our role is to seek an understanding of how best to actualize this competency in every student that walks our halls. These are the lessons that our esteemed faculty know and live and those that a student of The Meadows School accumulates in their academic journey.
Joseph Carver
Chief Innovation Officer
- All School