Ideas Worth Spreading 2015-1016 ㈠

The key to success -- Grit

When I was 27 years old,I left a very demanding job in management consultingfor a job that was even more demanding: teaching.I went to teach seventh graders mathin the New York City public schools.And like any teacher, I made quizzes and tests.I gave out homework assignments.When the work came back, I calculated grades.

What struck me was that IQ was not the only differencebetween my best and my worst students.Some of my strongest performers did not have stratospheric IQ scores.Some of my smartest kids weren't doing so well.

And that got me thinking.The kinds of things you need to learn in seventh grade math,sure, they're hard: ratios, decimals, the area of a parallelogram.But these concepts are not impossible,and I was firmly convinced that every one of my studentscould learn the materialif they worked hard and long enough.

After several more years of teaching,I came to the conclusion that what we need in educationis a much better understanding of students and learningfrom a motivational perspective,from a psychological perspective.In education, the one thing we know how to measure best is IQ.But what if doing well in school and in lifedepends on much morethan your ability to learn quickly and easily?

So I left the classroom,and I went to graduate school to become a psychologist.I started studying kids and adultsin all kinds of super challenging settings,and in every study my question was,who is successful here and why?My research team and I went to West Point Military Academy.We tried to predict which cadetswould stay in military training and which would drop out.We went to the National Spelling Beeand tried to predict which children would advance farthest in competition.We studied rookie teachers working in really tough neighborhoods,asking which teachers are still going to be here in teachingby the end of the school year,and of those, who will be the most effectiveat improving learning outcomes for their students?We partnered with private companies, asking,which of these salespeople is going to keep their jobs?And who's going to earn the most money?In all those very different contexts,one characteristic emerged as a significant predictor of success.And it wasn't social intelligence.It wasn't good looks, physical health,and it wasn't IQ.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, 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.

A few years ago,I started studying grit in the Chicago public schools.I asked thousands of high school juniorsto take grit questionnaires,and then waited around more than a yearto see who would graduate.It turns out that grittier kidswere significantly more likely to graduate,even when I matched them on every characteristic I could measure,things like family income,standardized achievement test scores,even how safe kids felt when they were at school.So it's not just at West Point or the National Spelling Beethat grit matters.It's also in school,especially for kids at risk for dropping out.To me, the most shocking thing about gritis how little we know,how little science knows, about building it.Every day, parents and teachers ask me,"How do I build grit in kids?What do I do to teach kids a solid work ethic?How do I keep them motivated for the long run?"The honest answer is,I don't know.(Laughter)What I do know is that talent doesn't make you gritty.Our data show very clearlythat there are many talented individualswho simply do not follow through on their commitments.In fact, in our data, grit is usually unrelatedor even inversely related to measures of talent.

So far, the best idea I've heard about building grit in kidsis something called "growth mindset."This is an idea developed at Stanford University by Carol Dweck,and it is the belief that the ability to learn is not fixed,that it can change with your effort.Dr. Dweck has shownthat when kids read and learn about the brainand how it changes and grows in response to challenge,they're much more likely to persevere when they fail,because they don't believe that failure is a permanent condition.

So growth mindset is a great idea for building grit.But we need more.And that's where I'm going to end my remarks,because that's where we are.That's the work that stands before us.We need to take our best ideas, our strongest intuitions,and we need to test them.We need to measure whether we've been successful,and we have to be willing to fail, to be wrong,to start over again with lessons learned.

In other words, we need to be grittyabout getting our kids grittier.

Thank you.

Words and Phrases

①stick with 持续；坚持：to continue with sth or continue doing with sth.

They decided to stick with their original plan.

②in response to 反应；回应: react to sth that has happened or been said

The product was developed in response to customer demand.

③rookie 新生；新手: a person who has just started a job or an activity and has very little experience

We studied rookie teachers working in really tough neighborhoods, asking which teachers are still going to be here in teaching by the end of the school year.

④stamina 耐力；持久力: the physical or mental strength that enables you to do sth difficult for long periods of time

It takes a lot of stamina to run a marathon.

⑤ethic 道德体系；行为准则: a system of moral principles or rules of behavior

They have a strongly defined work ethic. 职业道德

⑥inversely 相反地: in an inverse or contrary manner

we regard health as inversely related to social class.

⑦mindset 思维模式；思维倾向: a set of attitudes or fixed ideas that sb has and that are often difficult to change

A conservative mindset 保守的思维模式

the mindset of the computer generation 计算机时代的思维倾向

⑧turn out 证明是；结果是；原来是：to be discovered to be;to be prove to be

Sometimes things don't turnout the way we think they're going to.

一．用所给词或短语的正确形式填空。

stick with convince in response to advance
What struck me most is in all kinds of super challenging settings
partner with I come to the conclusion that partner with turn out

1. ______ their hospitality, we wrote a thank-you note.

2. These enduring(lasting) relationships are at the heart of everything we do, and we currently ______over 1,200 organizations globally.

3. Practicing is tiresome, but ______ it and some day you will be a good pianist.

4. ______in the movie ___ the father’s deep love for his son.

5. This ancient country has ______from a rural, feudal society to an urban, industrial power.

6. The more I think of it, the more ______there's something fishy about it.

二. 翻译下面两段：

1.意志力是面对长远目标时的热情和毅力。 意志力是有耐力的表现。 意志力是日复一日依然对未来坚信不已 不只是这周、 不只是这个月， 而是年复一年。用心、努力工作 来实现所坚信的那个未来。 意志力是将生活看作是一场马拉松，不是短跑。

______

2.我所知道的是，有才华不意味着就有意志力。 我们的资料非常清楚地揭示 有很多才华横溢的人 并不能坚持到底，实现承诺。 事实上，我们的研究发现， 意志力通常与才华无关， 有时甚至成反比。

______

  1. In response to 2. partner with 3. stick with
  1. What struck me most…is 5. advanced 6. I'mconvinced

翻译见原文