The following information appeared in Time Magazine, September 10th, 2012.
Much drama surrounds the act of raising children. Tiger moms square off against free-range parents and one of the lodestars that they have followed is educational achievement.
Children who get good grades tend to do well at university and well at life. There is a huge chasm between the lifetime earnings of college graduates and high school graduates. So by all means, the focus is on making our kids as “brainy” as possible.
But now, there is a trickle of thought that says academic ability may not be all is cracked up to be. Rather than continued focus on cognitive skills, some suggest that a little more grit is what kids really need.
In Paul Tough’s book, “How Children Succeed”, he suggests that grit is the cornerstone of educational reform, especially in poor communities. His research laden book argues that while IQ is stubborn to change after the age of 8, the ability to persist, focus and adapt is more malleable even into early adulthood.
While IQ is what gets kids into college, they need a whole other set of skills to graduate.”Not long ago”, he writes, “the United States led the world in producing college graduates. Now it leads the world in producing college dropouts”. He continues, “a good GPA, even from a lousy high school is a more reliable predictor of whether students will finish college than a high mark on the SAT’s”. GPA’s he argues, rewards perseverance, character, time-management skills and the ability to work well with others. An easy “A” will help kids less than a hard-won “B”
The Tender Nest supports academic readiness for all children. Why not visit your local library and borrow Paul Tough’s book? It very well may stretch your comfort level and remove mounds of pressure from our children.
