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posted by martyb on Monday January 12 2015, @10:43AM   Printer-friendly
from the Ask-John-Wayne dept.

Anna North writes in the NYT that self-control, curiosity, and “grit” may seem more personal than academic, but at some schools, they’re now part of the regular curriculum. Some researchers say personality could be even more important than intelligence when it comes to students’ success in school. “We probably need to start rethinking our emphasis on intelligence,” says Arthur E. Poropat citing research that shows that both conscientiousness and openness are more highly correlated with student performance than intelligence. “This isn’t to say that we should throw intelligence out, but we need to pull back on thinking that this is the only game in town.” The KIPP network of charter schools emphasizes grit along with six other “character strengths,” including self-control and curiosity. “We talk a lot about them as being skills or strengths, not necessarily traits, because it’s not innate," says Leyla Bravo-Willey. “If a child happens to be very gritty but has trouble participating in class, we still want them to develop that part of themselves.”

But the focus on character has encountered criticism. “To begin with, not everything is worth doing, let alone doing for extended periods, and not everyone who works hard is pursuing something worthwhile” says Alfie Kohn. "On closer inspection, the concept of grit turns out to be dubious, as does the evidence cited to support it. Persistence can actually backfire and distract from more important goals." There’s other evidence that grit isn’t always desirable. Gritty people sometimes exhibit what psychologists call “nonproductive persistence”: They try, try again, says Dean MacFarlin though the result may be either unremitting failure or “a costly or inefficient success that could have been easily surpassed by alternative courses of action,”

 
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  • (Score: 0) by curunir_wolf on Monday January 12 2015, @01:52PM

    by curunir_wolf (4772) on Monday January 12 2015, @01:52PM (#133974)

    conscientiousness and openness are more highly correlated with student performance than intelligence

    That's simply because teachers no longer grade students on their grasp of the academic material being taught, but the amount of "work" or "effort" they put in. How much of the grade these days is based on "homework completion" (getting the right answers not required) and "classroom participation" (which includes answering stupid questions), etc., etc.

    Even when I was in grade school (many years ago), it didn't matter much that I aced most of the tests - I was a "lazy" student that often did not turn in home work and fell asleep in class too often. That meant that even though I got A's on all the tests I would get C's and D's on my report card. They have created a self-fulfilling prophesy where personality determines "performance" because your performance is measured on how well you are following orders.

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  • (Score: 1) by fritsd on Monday January 12 2015, @02:01PM

    by fritsd (4586) on Monday January 12 2015, @02:01PM (#133976) Journal

    I feel sorry for you, really, that your teachers didn't see this and gave you more difficult homework (from the next year, perhaps).

    • (Score: 2) by GungnirSniper on Monday January 12 2015, @05:43PM

      by GungnirSniper (1671) on Monday January 12 2015, @05:43PM (#134079) Journal

      In America, our relentless pursuit of equality drives our educators to eliminate most differentiation between grade levels. This means that smarter students, or at least ones who pick up material faster, are stuck with the weakest links. There are special education programs for the slower students and often well-funded ones, but there is nothing like that for the faster ones. It is one of the reasons private, parent-funded education is so popular here. We can't have the smarter kids pulling too far ahead, can we?

      This is one of the reasons I dislike Common Core and most testing. It reinforces the idea that everyone has the same intellect everywhere.

  • (Score: 2) by kaszz on Monday January 12 2015, @02:03PM

    by kaszz (4211) on Monday January 12 2015, @02:03PM (#133978) Journal

    And no escape path to a school that measures performance?

    • (Score: 2) by GungnirSniper on Monday January 12 2015, @05:47PM

      by GungnirSniper (1671) on Monday January 12 2015, @05:47PM (#134082) Journal

      And no escape path to a school that measures performance?

      Not unless his parents have an extra 10K+ a year to spend per child. The teachers' unions are doing a great job at keeping the current system as-is.

      • (Score: 2) by kaszz on Monday January 12 2015, @06:06PM

        by kaszz (4211) on Monday January 12 2015, @06:06PM (#134093) Journal

        Change country?

        • (Score: 2) by GungnirSniper on Monday January 12 2015, @06:19PM

          by GungnirSniper (1671) on Monday January 12 2015, @06:19PM (#134099) Journal

          The Greatest Country in the World(tm), America.

        • (Score: 2) by Common Joe on Tuesday January 13 2015, @05:52AM

          by Common Joe (33) <{common.joe.0101} {at} {gmail.com}> on Tuesday January 13 2015, @05:52AM (#134296) Journal

          Change country?

          Having changed countries away from America (for non-political reasons) to a European country, I cannot say that it is the panacea that many think it is. I cannot tell you how many people told me they were jealous when I said I was moving to Europe; they had some sort of romantic notion about living here. All I expected was a lot of hard work. And even with those expectations and plans to overcome, and the amount of work I have put, and the successes I have achieved, the move still continues to kick my ass on a daily basis many months into it.

          Directly addressing education: all countries have serious problems in that department. And even if education is better than in the U.S., it will probably have some sort of significant failure elsewhere in the infrastructure.

          • (Score: 2) by kaszz on Tuesday January 13 2015, @06:48AM

            by kaszz (4211) on Tuesday January 13 2015, @06:48AM (#134301) Journal

            So what's the problem with the stay in Europe besides the move itself? schools in Europe differ also on nation basis.

            • (Score: 2) by Common Joe on Tuesday January 13 2015, @09:53AM

              by Common Joe (33) <{common.joe.0101} {at} {gmail.com}> on Tuesday January 13 2015, @09:53AM (#134330) Journal

              So what's the problem with the stay in Europe besides the move itself? schools in Europe differ also on nation basis.

              I don't have the time to properly addresses both of your questions, but I'll try to give a broad answer.

              Your original answer to school problems was "change country", but that opens up a whole host of other problems -- so this answer is more than just about schools. Germany (where I am) is pretty open minded toward foreigners -- especially the city I live in. With that said, most Americans will never be able to get a job unless you speak the German language fluently. Very fluently. It has been a struggle for me and many others I met to learn the language to proper fluency (which takes years). In my case, my computer skills grew old as I learned the language. Who wants to hire a person who can barely speak German and has outdated computer skills? Cultural job hiring practices are complicating matters. That is the problem I am currently facing.

              Sure, with the right connections or if you're lighting-strike lucky, you can get an English only job and go that route, but most English speaking jobs require that you live in America (or Britain) initially and come here for only a year or two. Then you go back. I came here for family reasons. I have no good connections and I'm not a linguist person.

              Going to the doctor for a small problems or even just for a dental / eye checkup has been frustrating. There are language barriers and I-don't-care attitudes. I've been yelled at by ice cream vendors because I was having problems with the language despite my wife who was interpreting.

              It's lonely... even for an introvert such as myself. Native Germans (your best source for learning the German language) don't want to associate with you too much especially during the day. If you're young and don't have family, then going out at night to meet people is an option that can open up doors. Having a family makes that much, much more difficult. One of my classmates (from my language course) had his marriage fall apart because he never saw his wife.

              English speaking foreigners will eagerly become your friends as they have the same problems you do, but going out with foreigners will not help you learn the local language. So... either go out with a bunch of foreigners so you can have friends or face years of loneliness as you try to become friends with Germans so you can learn the language. Fluency requires four hard earned skills: reading, writing, listening, and speaking. Learning to read and write does not necessarily help you communicate verbally.

              The problems I face apply to every country in the world including America. Once you have language fluency, a decent job, a way to easily get around, friends you can hang with and keep you sane, and your everyday affairs aren't demanding all of your attention, then things become much easier.

              The most important things? A fantastic network and fluency in the local language.

              But to simply say "change countries" means years of work and hundreds of thousands of dollars. It's not so simple.

  • (Score: 2) by GungnirSniper on Monday January 12 2015, @09:16PM

    by GungnirSniper (1671) on Monday January 12 2015, @09:16PM (#134171) Journal

    That's simply because teachers no longer grade students on their grasp of the academic material being taught, but the amount of "work" or "effort" they put in. How much of the grade these days is based on "homework completion" (getting the right answers not required) and "classroom participation" (which includes answering stupid questions), etc., etc.

    Sometimes having a half-assed answer is better than no answer at all. Just ask a Sales Engineer.

  • (Score: 2) by aristarchus on Tuesday January 13 2015, @06:27AM

    by aristarchus (2645) on Tuesday January 13 2015, @06:27AM (#134299) Journal

    That's simply because teachers no longer grade students on their grasp of the academic material being taught, but the amount of "work" or "effort" they put in. How much of the grade these days is based on "homework completion" (getting the right answers not required) and "classroom participation" (which includes answering stupid questions), etc., etc.

    And you know this how? I call bullshit, and as an educator (though serveral millenia prior), I fail you on basic reasoning. I hope your answering of "stupid questions" which obviously you do not understand, serves you well in the future. You moron. Wait, you didn't actually complete the homework, either, did you? Loser. Fail. Idiot. You are expelled from the church of reason and learning. May you prosper amoungst the thieves and poltroons of the business class. May God forgive you, too. Any God. You need all the help you can get.