The Grit Factor

Professor J,

I thought we were agreeing that we agreed? Now I'm just confused. ;)

Very interesting that you list various groups of people with different degrees of grit. The fact that the discipline of the military seems to foster it in people reinforces my belief in the idea of having 2 years of mandatory military service between high school and college. I think a couple of years of service, physical fitness, and discipline would do wonders at a time in life when so many young people find themselves floundering. As I've noted before I think we'd also find ourselves in fewer unnecessary conflicts if every person in government knew their child might be involved.

You make a good point about true opportunity. Perhaps meaningless math problems don't bring out the stalwartness those researchers were looking for. I know that personally I will work long past exhaustion on something I care deeply about and carve out time for it no matter how busy I am. When engaged in a project I will often skip meals and lose sleep. I call it selfish industriousness. People who ask me to help with something I'm not interested in or don't see the importance of don't see the same kind of effort. Hopefully, they would see at least a a desire to help and a little grit. :)

And if you don't mind another family anecdote, my daughter told me a few weeks ago that she felt like her determination in getting an education and being interested in how people learn in general, arose from being responsible for so much of her own schooling. There is a great benefit in allowing students to be in control of much of their studies and time. My son corroborates her theory. As any teacher knows you can kindle, inspire, share and expose,  but you cannot teach anyone who doesn't have a desire to learn. Making students more and teachers less responsible for learning may be a part of the grit equation in education.

Franklin's genius is apparent like that of all great men in still being relevant centuries on. Intellectual honesty isn't something we see all that often in our culture. When did it become a mortal sin to be wrong or change your mind? Why is it so hard for people to say that they didn't have all the information or now realize they were purposefully mis-informed?

It seems almost impossible for people to say:

I see your point.

I hadn't thought of it like that.

I didn't know that.

My information may be wrong.

I don't have enough information to be sure. 

This human determination to be right (or at least not have our pride hurt by being proven wrong) is causing many to cling to faulty thinking and resist looking for common ground where we can collaborate.

It may well be our undoing.

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