Go Ahead--Grade My Character!
Dear Readers,
Tell me the truth. Am I optimistic? (Not so much in recent blogs, I admit.) Grateful? Zesty? Curious?
Are my social instincts on target--or do I just blurt out what I think about the moral underpinnings of public education, heedless of whose toes and income streams I might be stepping on? Does that represent internal lack of self-control? Am I the kid who would gleefully eat the marshmallow now, not convinced it would still be there in 20 minutes, unwilling to delay gratification?
And what about the all-important grit? True, I am a PhD dropout (mostly because I didn't see future opportunities for a retired teacher with a terminal degree, I'd taken all the doc-level courses that intrigued me, and I couldn't get an advisory team to agree that my research interests were quantifiable enough to be worthy)--but I taught middle school for more than 25 years. Surely that represents grit, no?
Paul Tough is currently out on the lecture circuit, promoting the idea that seven character traits are as important as IQ in determining future success:
The reports send a signal that through developing kids' resilience, they aren't stuck being any way they don't want to be ("You don't have to remain the slow kid," for instance). They create a sense of personal agency, and moreover, transplant focus from tweens needing to improve intelligence to their working harder on character development (and that true smartness can be a byproduct of their character). Even the things we typically consider innate can be worked on and changed.
Well, amen. In spite of dire, "this goes on your permanent record" warnings from generations