True Grit

Grit. It’s trendy. It’s arguably a key factor in students’ future success. This resilience, perseverance, whatever we want to call it, is popping up everywhere. What's more, it is now not just a desirable trait for students, but for teachers as well. A new study of novice teachers in high-need classrooms found that teachers with more grit are more likely to succeed compared to their peers, and also less likely to leave the classroom.

I’d never heard of this desirability for grit until three years ago as a Teach for America corps member. Grit was one of the sections of the rubric we were assessed on for our selection to the program. Did we try again if at first we did not succeed? Did we persevere through hardship? In working at a charter school in the Mississippi Delta last summer, the administration pushed to teach what they considered valuable personality traits to students to build their characters. One of these was grit. Others included zest, optimism, self-control, gratitude, social intelligence, and curiosity. Articles everywhere are popping up discussing the value of grit, and its existence in the characters of successful people.

In reflecting on when I may have shown “grit,” I immediately think of two miserable summers on swim team after 4^th and 5^th grade when I got last place in literally EVERY race I swam, and won the “most improved” swimmer award two summers in a row (which may as well just have been called “THE worst swimmer award”). I absolutely 100 percent would have quit if my mother had not made me go. And even if I did go, my swimming instructors had to literally pick me up and drop me into the pool a couple times because I HATED IT SO MUCH. But I made it through. I supposedly improved. So is that grit? Or is it not so much because as soon as my mother gave me the choice to not do swim team I said “THANK YOU! NEVER AGAIN” ? Maybe I showed grit for my perseverance through those summers, but I was also completely happy with my choice to quit. I have never looked back (at least not longingly).

When it comes to education and developing young people, grit is important, and I don’t think our emphasis on it should completely disappear. But should we really be giving this trait so much attention? While we do want students to not simply give up on everything they try, aren’t there times when that may be the better choice? In talking to Meenoo Rami during my fieldwork in her classroom, another strong point surfaced—who are we to say what personality traits are most desirable? Is it fair to push these white, middle-class values on a diverse population of students and to tell them that they must behave in a certain way?

Maybe a level of grit is needed in teachers—after all we don’t want them quitting all over the place. I would say this holds for most jobs.  However, many arguments against this desirability for grit in teachers simply say that, while sure, it may be nice, teachers should not NEED this trait—especially if our expectation is to be supported in our profession. Yes, we should be willing to work at our job. But schools should also support teachers so that they do not have to  survive adversity everyday at work. Lack of support should not be supplemented by simply finding more “gritty” teachers. Several blogs relating similar arguments and ideas can be found here: http://blogs.edweek.org/teachers/teaching_ahead/

As for teachers who quit—this is sad of course. However, I can’t help but think about my swim team experience. I don’t want to encourage people to leave the profession, but I also realize that teaching is not for everyone. Is it better for teachers to show grit, even if they are unhappy in their work? Or is it better for students to have teachers who truly care, and truly love teaching?