The strong case for grit: accomplishment, strength and confidence. The evidence is perfectly clear. Success can be defined in many ways. Accomplishment does

The strong case for grit: accomplishment, strength and confidence. The evidence is perfectly clear. Success can be defined in many ways. Accomplishment does not always result in a successful outcome by all measures. But success is rarely achieved without some significant accomplishments along the way. Consider the metaphor of the winning the battle but losing the war. Consider sports. Was the game successful? Was an individual player’s performance perfect? Perhaps not. But have there been other successful outcomes? Have players become stronger? Maybe the next game or even the season will still be a success. Consider a toddler learning to walk or a child learning to ride a bike. There are many failures, and yet the child is encouraged to continues to try. They may not get to the Olympics, but are they successful anyway? Isn’t the child empowered? If the goal of education is to build strong and empowered individuals with a toolbox to go forth and tackle society’s problems, then grit must be an essential part of that educational training and that toolbox. But if the goal of education is to just satisfy one particular academic metric, then the “case for grit” may be as yet undetermined.