This is the most sensible commentary I have read about “grit.” It was written by Christine Yeh of the University of San Francisco.
The notion that kids in poverty can overcome hunger, lack of medical care, homelessness, and trauma by buckling down and persisting was always stupid and heartless, exactly what you would expect to hear from Scrooge or the Koch brothers or Betsy DeVos.
She writes:
”Grit is an easy concept to fall in love with because it represents hope and perseverance, and conjures up images of working-class individuals living the “American dream.” However, treating grit as an appealing and simple fix detracts attention from the larger structural inequities in schools, while simultaneously romanticizing notions of poverty…
“Perhaps this idea of grit resonates with so many people who believe in the popular American adage that if you work hard and pull yourself up by your bootstraps, then you can achieve anything. This belief unfortunately, assumes that individuals have the power, privilege, and access to craft their own futures, regardless of circumstance and systemic barriers.
“Statistics on educational access consistently reveal vast differences in resources in affluent versus poor neighborhoods. Predominantly white, middle- and upper-income school districts tend to spend significantly more money per student than the districts with the highest percentages of marginalized students. Our poorest schools also tend to have large class sizes, unsafe school transportation, damaged and outdated facilities, and high staff turnover. All of these conditions directly contribute to low educational outcomes and underscore the link between access to school resources and improvements in students’ success. Schools that focus on grit shouldn’t ignore structural inequities because they assume that regardless of your race, class, or social context you can still triumph.
“To be sure, there have been many examples of poor students possibly using their grit to overcome the greatest of odds—such as unstable housing, our troubled foster care system, and community violence. And there are probably advantages for teaching students to persevere and stick with a goal while facing challenges and obstacles. However, the responsibility of a great education should not be placed on the individual student to achieve through grit. Rather, schools need to build their own type of grit—that is, a long-term investment and goal, a stick-to-itiveness—to serve all students, but especially those in the margins.
“Educators need to resist the temptation to hyper focus on singular qualities—such as grit, self-esteem, or IQ—as quick cure-alls for our nations’ education problems and identify meaningful changes that tackle discrepancies in student resources. We don’t want to teach grit as a skill without making larger systemic and contextual changes in schools that promote equitable conditions for success…
”Numerous educational research studies demonstrate that schools that provide culturally relevant curriculum—including books by authors of color, critical explorations of histories and social movements, and school-based programs that creatively foster positive identities and cultural empowerment—dramatically increase students’ engagement in school, bonding with teachers, and academic achievement. These practices work because students feel connected and represented as a meaningful part of school, and subsequently they develop a focus on future goals. These ideas may not conform to the recent movements on character education and, more specifically, on teaching grit, but they do embody the lives and stories of many targeted and vulnerable communities. The notion of grit has certainly spurred important discussions about the nonacademic experiences and skills we want our students to have, but it has often obscured the very conditions that created educational inequities in the first place.”
All of “reform” is a red herring so that policymakers can ignore the issue of inequality. So-called choice has served to exacerbate our inequities while providing even less funding for public schools. Rather than dealing with the harmful impact of poverty, it is easier to scapegoat the teachers of poor students. Grit is another simplistic distraction allowing policymakers to ignore the far more complex problems of poverty, institutionalized racism, funding inequities and segregation. Everyone wants students to learn how to persevere, but it is no definitive solution to our much larger problems. There are no magic bullets, just lots of hard work addressing our systemic inequities.
AGREE, retired teacher.
MLK, Jr.:
We are likely to find that the problems of housing and education, instead of preceding the elimination of poverty, will themselves be affected if poverty is first abolished. . . .The curse of poverty has no justification in our age. . . . The time has come for us to civilize ourselves by the total, direct and immediate abolition of
poverty.
Can we start with healthcare for ALL? How about using that money to send doctors and dentists to school twice/year?
At the same time, our young deserve a LUNCH time when they can sit, eat a nutritious meal, and converse with others, then go play.
Even lunch time for our young has become ridiculous in this country.
President Johnson declared the “War on Poverty” in the 1960s. 55 years and many trillions of dollars later, poverty has won.
“The poor will be with you always” – Matthew 26:11
The real reason that LBJ’s war on poverty failed is not what most people think. It isn’t because the U.S. is not manufacturing products anymore. In fact, the U.S. has the 2nd largest manufacturing sector in the world and the only reason it is in 2nd place is that China has a much larger population to support a larger manufacturing sector, because the U.S. manufacturing sector hasn’t become smaller.
“You’re Not Going To Believe This But US Manufacturing Is Now Bigger Than Ever Before”
“What has changed is the number of manufacturing jobs:”
https://www.forbes.com/sites/timworstall/2016/11/16/youre-not-going-to-believe-this-but-us-manufacturing-is-now-bigger-than-ever-before/#46795a8e578d
I don’t think replacing humans with robots/automation was a problem in LBJ’s day. The best way to reduce poverty is through job creation and job training/education, but a country can’t create jobs when it is replacing them with robots/automation.
In fact, “Automation could kill 73 million jobs by 2030”
https://www.usatoday.com/story/money/2017/11/29/automation-could-kill-73-million-u-s-jobs-2030/899878001/
How many jobs have already been lost to automation?
“Don’t Blame China For Taking U.S. Jobs”
http://fortune.com/2016/11/08/china-automation-jobs/
And even China is replacing jobs with robots/automation
“Robots, not humans: official policy in China”
“China is going all out for automation. The country has become the world’s leading buyer of industrial robots – and is increasingly manufacturing them at home”
https://newint.org/features/2017/11/01/industrial-robots-china
Charles, no matter how many innovations there are, if people don’t have jobs to buy that crap, then the economy will suffer. It is the consumer, people with jobs and money to spend, that fuel the engine of the U.S. economy. It will never be the innovators.
You have that right. There are major structural problems in our economy, laws, & govt.policies that are consistently ignored by pundits, elected officials & candidates running for public office. There is no political will at the top to make those changes.
However, the US has a long history of average people finding ways to shift the existing power dynamics. Let’s hope average, grassroots groups force Democrats come to their senses and promote progressive policies that counter the vacuum currently being filled by rt wing republicans.
“Nothing in this world can take the place of persistence. Talent will not: nothing is more common than unsuccessful men with talent. Genius will not; unrewarded genius is almost a proverb. Education will not: the world is full of educated derelicts. Persistence and determination alone are omnipotent. ”
Calvin Coolidge
Read more at: https://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/calvin_coolidge_414555
I’d like to know the person who decided having GRIT is good. GRIT reminds me of DIRT.
Way back when one of tho persons was known as Horatio Alger, Jr.
Grit is good
Grit is great
Thank you for our grits
Amen
Thank you, thank you, thank you. I get so sick of hearing about grit from adults that have no clue what it takes just for some kids to get to school. I heard someone say, I think Anderson Cooper, the people of Haiti have endured more than most of us could imagine and still they survive. How many of us have endured hunger, homelessness etc.? I’m sure a few of us have, but I tell you…I marvel at the strength of children I have met in Los Angeles.
I was an ESL teacher for many years. I taught many children from war torn countries including Haiti. I found many of them to be among the most resilient, amazing survivors, wise beyond their years. They were grateful for every bit of human kindness they received. We could learn a lot from these young people.
Delia,
For so many of our “disadvantaged” kids, grit is already a strong characteristic. Grit is what gets them to school in spite of outside influences. I also marvel at and respect these kids.
What do these ‘grit’ people say grit is for? So you can pass a test? Graduate high school? Get a job? None of those are good enough reasons. The suggestions above (relevant curriculum, school-based programs, etc.) coupled with grit focused on equipping kids to recognize inequality and empowering them to change it, THAT would be something I could support.
“What grit is for”
Grit is for grinding
Grit is for sanding
Grit is for binding
On stairs and the landing
Grit’s for construction
But not for the schools
It’s not for instruction
But only for tools
Can grit be taught? Doubtful.
Knowledge can be taught, and without it the poor will never be able to compete with the rich.
Hate to say it but the poor have never been able to compete with the rich and never will. . . . barring such widespread violence and the killing of the upper class and even then new parasites move up to the top to take the place of the old dead ones.
Barring that it seems to me that the best we peeons can hope for is a few concessions from the bastards that have already taken/stolen so much.
It seems to me we can make the playing field, if not even, at least less tilted against the poor. Mainstream thinking in ed schools holds that we can lift the poor by mental workouts –sprinkled with PC pieties and a few tidbits of knowledge about MLK–alone. No: they need a full-on foundation of knowledge about the world we live in. Schools don’t even try to provide this any more. It’s all analogues of Lumosity all the time, even though Lumosity has been discredited.
Your condescension is astounding, Ponderosa. Poor kids understand the world they live in far better than rich kids, the way slaves and servants know their masters far better than their masters will ever know them. They don’t need a bunch of rich white saviors coming in and telling them about the world. They know the world is built on their backs and the sweat of their ancestors’ stolen labor and the blood the people we killed to take this land. They don’t need to be fed a bunch of textbook “facts” about Columbus and Jefferson and Custer and all the other dead white guys.
Gotta love it when our commentator who makes a cottage industry out of condescension accuses another of being condescending, especially when there is nothing condescending about the the comment our commentator claims is condescending. Pot, meet kettle.
So apparently you’re not ignoring me?
Gotta admit I got suckered into reading this sneering remark. I value the opinions of ponderosa and Duane very much, even when I disagree with them. Will try not to let that happen again.
As a southerner, I would like to point out that we have always had grits in the Deep South. My rather outspoken partner on the truck when I worked in the sewer would attack any soured Georgia waitress who would dare offer free grits with the meal. Others I have known would swap their first born for a small plate of these things.
We do not need grits in school. They taste like sawdust.
how ’bout hushpuppies?
I would actually commit crime if it brought me back my aunt Ruth’s cornbread.
Polenta, on the other hand, can be sold at a premium!
Dear Dr. Ravitch,
In reaction to hearing how, too often, teachers are being maligned, I want to relate a delightful experience my grandsons are having with their teachers- different grandsons than those in Supt. Hayes’ fantastic district. “Grit” never becomes a topic of discussion.
At the closing of each year my one grandson, presently in third, cries because he doesn’t want to leave his loving, caring teacher and move on to the next grade. And each year he becomes attached to another phenomenal teacher.
Again, this year he has a teacher who, as my son describes her: encouraging, nurturing, loving, thoughtful, and creatively weaves the Standards into her teaching. In September his son’s teacher welcomed her students to join her around “the camp fire.” Apparently her teaching revolves around a classroom theme by which she relates to her students intellectually, emotionally, and creatively- no “cookie cutter” direct teaching, drill and kill approach.
His son in kindergarten, also loves school. He comes home dancing and singing about new concepts he has learned- a positive association of what he learned in school. He does not come home loaded down with homework of facts to memorize and sentences to copy. Instead he has time to read to his parents and visa versa.
As the saying goes: a good teacher is worth his/her weight in gold. They come grounded in Early Childhood Studies, philosophies of education, curriculum and assessments, core academic studies and a Practicum. They come from accredited education institutions- no TFA teachers on the faculty. The teachers and students thrive in the atmosphere of caring, sharing and academic freedom. Those characteristics are not endemic only in wealthy districts.
It’s just one more brick in the wall of the consumer culture. Which I am not totally against. I have no problem with sales puffery when it comes to pronouncing some new product as the latest & greatest– as long as that’s restricted to cars, paper towels & the like. Everyone takes that w/a grain of salt. But snake-oil consumerism does not belong in health, nor in education – public goods, supported to one extent or another by public funding – both complex, where the high intrinsic value is a given, but the components in constant flux/ devpt, subject to trial & error, w/long-term results not easily gleaned except w/ long hindsight. Thus utterly vulnerable to chicanery, fraud & corruption.
You said it: chicanery thrives when “the long-term results are not easily gleaned except with long hindsight.”
If grit is so great, why aren’t the rich and powerful depriving THEIR children such necessities as food, warmth, safety, health care, adequate equipment, etc?
Best comment of the day.
In response to Janietta Lusk:
“If grit is so great, why aren’t the rich and powerful depriving THEIR children such necessities as food, warmth, safety, health care, adequate equipment, etc?”
Grit has a variety of issues. One meaning for the word is drive, determination.
Research has focused on it and books have been written about it.
Angela Duckworth presents “Power of Passion and Perseverance” at TED talks Ed.
My grandchildren in another state are a good example of how grit plays out in their lives. Four from one family- two have grit to achieve academically. One has a determination to achieve in hockey. The sixth grader, the youngest, has no interest in conquering math or science. She is happy with writing, artwork and dancing. Com si com sa
My daughter would never have gotten her doctorate if she didn’t have grit. That could be said for most doctoral candidates. It appears that grit is more important than knowledge during the last “lap.”
If it were up to me she would have ended up with a bachelors. I even discouraged her from taking AP courses before starting her high school classes I called the school and told them to withdraw her from them. All hell broke out. She had grit fed by numerous sources.
Both teachers and students need grit at times. When I first moved to the east coast I took a job in the inner city. Two teachers before me quit in the middle of the year. When I appeared on the scene the classroom had been raided of all equipment including books. Money from my own pocket provided supplies. I needed grit to finish that year and plenty of honest praise developed grit in a few students.
As I said previously: a knowledgeable, creative, energetic, loving, caring, teacher can move an entire class but without grit it won’t happen. Students need grit at different times for different purposes. You can’t lump everyone together maintaining they are all in need of some specific element at the same time.
I didn’t say “grit” in its traditional meaning isn’t important. What I said is the rich and powerful are saying that grit is enough to overcome all other obstacles…and the lack of grit is the only cause of failure..and finally in their circular reasoning, therefore children should go hungry to develop grit. So I ask again, if GRIT is the cure-all, and development of grit is due to the lack of basic necessities, why aren’t the children of the rich and powerful in schools without adequate heat, or seating, or current books? Why aren’t they learning without nutritious or adequate food?
You talk about the wonderful opportunities your grandchildren have, but you are ignoring the many children who don’t have those opportunities. Grit will only get you so far if you are poisoned by lead, stunted by lack of nutrition and not provided with access to AP classes, art, music, drama, and necessary supplies, plus no computer classes or even access to the internet. Sure, you had the means and provided 100 students in your school with supplies bought out of your pocket for 1 class. What about the rest of their classes? What about the rest of the students? What about the teachers who didn’t have the means? What about the elementary students trying to learn the basic building blocks of literacy and numeracy with growling bellies?
Do not miss the point.
The rich and powerful say that the only reason that any school that primarily serves the poor has failures is due to lack of grit, and going hungry and doing without will develop that grit. If you truly agreed with them, and they truly believed that, then you would not have bought supplies, forcing the students to get by on grit, and they would deprive their own children, forcing them to develop grit.
The only grit that can be manufactured is sand and gravel. Once we start messing with the kind of “grit” or so-called “IQ” or “social IQ” or “self-esteem” that is part of being human, it is the same as opening a Pandora’s box. Those terms must come naturally or not at all.
“The Gift of Failure”
“The self-esteem movement has done an entire generation a deep disservice. It started with the best intentions. In 1969, Nathaniel Brandon wrote a paper entitled “The Psychology of Self-Esteem” that suggested that “feelings of self-esteem were the key to success in life”. Hearing this, many people started to find ways to confer confidence upon our children. This resulted in competitions where everyone gets a trophy and no one actually wins. “New games” attempted to engage children without any winners or losers.
“The parents who embraced these efforts did so out of love and with the most noble of intentions. The only problem is that these efforts simply do not work. Self-esteem is not something conferred, it is earned through taking risks and developing skills. When children stretch themselves, they expand their sense of their own capability and then feel confident to tackle the next challenge. Confidence comes form competence – we do not bestow it as a gift.”
https://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/smores-and-more/201112/the-gift-failure
Bullying and abusing children to force them to have”GRIT” is only going to do more damage.