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<TITLE>RE: [Vision2020] Reading, Math and Grit</TITLE>
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<P><FONT SIZE=2>Hi Wayne,<BR>
<BR>
I also thank you for this post. When I added a final unit on virtue ethics to my ethics course, it became the more popular part of the course for many of my students. I joined their enthusiasm and made it my own personal ethics.<BR>
<BR>
Before I decided to focus on finishing my book on origins of religious violence, I made several forays into Idaho school districts testing the interest in character education in the schools. I received one strong lead from Kellogg, but the teachers there could not get the necessary funding for the workshops that I wanted to do.<BR>
<BR>
This column and the book mentioned has stirred by interest once again.<BR>
<BR>
By the way, the Germans have their own word for "grit." It is Sitzfleish, that essential piece of flesh between one's behind and the chair. A student can have the highest aptitude in the world, but she or he cannot go anywhere without Sitzfleish.<BR>
<BR>
Nick<BR>
<BR>
<BR>
A society grows great when old men plant the seeds of trees whose shade they know they shall never sit in.<BR>
<BR>
-Greek proverb<BR>
<BR>
<BR>
<BR>
-----Original Message-----<BR>
From: vision2020-bounces@moscow.com on behalf of Art Deco<BR>
Sent: Sat 9/8/2012 2:42 PM<BR>
To: vision2020@moscow.com<BR>
Subject: [Vision2020] Reading, Math and Grit<BR>
<BR>
[image: The New York Times] <<A HREF="http://www.nytimes.com/">http://www.nytimes.com/</A>><BR>
<BR>
<http://www.nytimes.com/adx/bin/adx_click.html?type=goto&opzn&page=www.nytimes.com/printer-friendly&pos=Position1&sn2=336c557e/4f3dd5d2&sn1=84de2ffb/98f1fc94&camp=FSL2012_ArticleTools_120x60_1787510c_nyt5&ad=BOSW_120x60_June13_NoText&goto=http%3A%2F%2Fwww%2Efoxsearchlight%2Ecom%2Fbeastsofthesouthernwild><BR>
<BR>
------------------------------<BR>
September 7, 2012<BR>
Reading, Math and Grit By JOE NOCERA<BR>
<BR>
Early in his acceptance<BR>
speech<<A HREF="http://www.nydailynews.com/news/politics/president-obama-dnc-speech-full-transcript-article-1.1153851">http://www.nydailynews.com/news/politics/president-obama-dnc-speech-full-transcript-article-1.1153851</A>>Thursday<BR>
night, President Obama gave a nod to his administration's backing<BR>
of education reform. "Some of the worst schools in the country have made<BR>
real gains in math and reading," he said, calling on the country to add<BR>
100,000 math and science teachers in the next decade. Then he moved on to<BR>
other topics, like foreign policy and<BR>
Medicare<<A HREF="http://topics.nytimes.com/top/news/health/diseasesconditionsandhealthtopics/medicare/index.html?inline=nyt-classifier">http://topics.nytimes.com/top/news/health/diseasesconditionsandhealthtopics/medicare/index.html?inline=nyt-classifier</A>>,<BR>
that he clearly views as more vital to the campaign as it enters the home<BR>
stretch.<BR>
<BR>
It is hardly a surprise that education isn't a heated subject in the<BR>
presidential race. Not when the economy is still sluggish, and the fight<BR>
over the role of government so central. Besides, Republicans and Democrats<BR>
alike have tried to fix education: George W. Bush with "No Child Left<BR>
Behind<<A HREF="http://www.edweek.org/ew/issues/no-child-left-behind/">http://www.edweek.org/ew/issues/no-child-left-behind/</A>>,"<BR>
and Obama with his administration's "Race to the<BR>
Top<<A HREF="http://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/fact-sheet-race-top">http://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/fact-sheet-race-top</A>>."<BR>
Those "real gains" notwithstanding, progress remains fitful and<BR>
frustrating. Too many disadvantaged children remain poorly educated. Too<BR>
many high school graduates don't attend - or drop<BR>
out<<A HREF="http://www.theatlantic.com/business/archive/2012/03/why-do-so-many-americans-drop-out-of-college/255226/">http://www.theatlantic.com/business/archive/2012/03/why-do-so-many-americans-drop-out-of-college/255226/</A>>-<BR>
of college, which has become the prerequisite for a middle-class<BR>
existence.<BR>
<BR>
Which is why the publication of a new book, entitled "How Children<BR>
Succeed<<A HREF="http://www.hmhbooks.com/howchildrensucceed/index.html">http://www.hmhbooks.com/howchildrensucceed/index.html</A>>,"<BR>
written by Paul Tough, a former editor of the Times Magazine, is such a<BR>
timely reminder that education remains the country's most critical issue.<BR>
In "How Children Succeed," Tough argues that simply teaching math and<BR>
reading - the so-called cognitive skills - isn't nearly enough, especially<BR>
for children who have grown up enduring the stresses of poverty. In fact,<BR>
it might not even be the most important thing.<BR>
<BR>
Rather, tapping into a great deal of recent research, Tough writes that the<BR>
most important things to develop in students are "noncognitive skills,"<BR>
which Tough labels as "character." Many of the people who have done the<BR>
research or are running the programs that Tough admires have different ways<BR>
of expressing those skills. But they are essentially character traits that<BR>
are necessary to succeed not just in school, but in life. Jeff Nelson, who<BR>
runs a program in partnership with 23 Chicago high schools called<BR>
OneGoal<<A HREF="http://www.onegoalgraduation.org/formerly-us-empowered/">http://www.onegoalgraduation.org/formerly-us-empowered/</A>>,<BR>
which works to improve student achievement and helps students get into<BR>
college, describes these traits as "resilience, integrity, resourcefulness,<BR>
professionalism and ambition." "They are the linchpin of what we do,"<BR>
Nelson told me. Nelson calls them "leadership skills." Tough uses the word<BR>
"grit" a lot.<BR>
<BR>
On some level, these are traits we all try to instill in our children.<BR>
(Indeed, Tough devotes a section of his book to the anxiety of many<BR>
upper-middle-class parents that they are failing in this regard.) But poor<BR>
children too often don't have parents who can serve that role. They develop<BR>
habits that impede their ability to learn. Often they can't even see what<BR>
the point of learning is. They act indifferently or hostile in school,<BR>
though that often masks feelings of hopelessness and anxiety.<BR>
<BR>
What was most surprising to me was Tough's insistence, bolstered by his<BR>
reporting, that character is not something you have to learn as a small<BR>
child, or are born with, but can be instilled even in teenagers who have<BR>
had extraordinarily difficult lives and had no previous grounding in these<BR>
traits. We get to meet a number of children who, with the help of a program<BR>
or a mentor who stresses character, have turned their lives around<BR>
remarkably. We meet Dave Levin, the founder of KIPP <<A HREF="http://www.kipp.org/">http://www.kipp.org/</A>>,<BR>
perhaps the best charter<BR>
school<<A HREF="http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/subjects/c/charter_schools/index.html?inline=nyt-classifier">http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/subjects/c/charter_schools/index.html?inline=nyt-classifier</A>>chain<BR>
in the country, whose earliest graduates run into problems when they<BR>
get to college - only 21 percent of them had graduated after six years,<BR>
according to Tough - and then begins stressing character traits to turn<BR>
things around.<BR>
<BR>
And we also meet Nelson, the founder of OneGoal, which takes disadvantaged<BR>
students when they are juniors in high school - most of whom believe that<BR>
college is an unattainable goal - and transforms them into responsible<BR>
young adults who can succeed in good universities. OneGoal has a "persistence<BR>
rate <<A HREF="http://www.onegoalgraduation.org/onegoal-results/">http://www.onegoalgraduation.org/onegoal-results/</A>>," as Nelson calls<BR>
it, of 85 percent, meaning that that's the percentage of students from<BR>
OneGoal who are making their way through college. (The program hasn't been<BR>
around long enough to have a graduation rate.) By comparison, nationally,<BR>
around only 8 percent of the poorest students ever graduate from college.<BR>
Nelson told me that OneGoal is expanding to Houston next year, and it hopes<BR>
to be in five cities by 2017.<BR>
<BR>
I hope it happens. Tough's book is utterly convincing that if disadvantaged<BR>
students can learn the noncognitive skills that will allow them to persist<BR>
in the face of difficulties - to reach for a goal even though it may off in<BR>
the distance, to strive for something - they can achieve a better life.<BR>
<BR>
It is easy to get discouraged about the state of education in America.<BR>
Maybe that's why the presidential candidates aren't stressing it. Which is<BR>
the other thing about "How Children Succeed." It's a source of optimism.<BR>
<BR>
<BR>
--<BR>
Art Deco (Wayne A. Fox)<BR>
art.deco.studios@gmail.com<BR>
<BR>
</FONT>
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