It's not controversial. I'm the one making controversial statements, I admit, and I'm genuinely thankful that you don't just dismiss it. I just think, we can't

It's not controversial. I'm the one making controversial statements, I admit, and I'm genuinely thankful that you don't just dismiss it. I just think, we can't be agnostic about what success is, what the goal is. I don't think "grit" really is a thing - if we both believed in the same things, shared the same ideas about what's important and valuable, I think we would be equally capable of the "sticking to it" part of it. But changing the way we teach won't help, because bringing people around to your set of values - whether it's convincing them that math has inherent beauty, or merely that mastering it is a great way to a lot of awesome material comforts - that isn't really teaching. It's preaching. It has to come from someone who believes it, and lives it - and is sufficiently similar to his students (or congregation!) that they can imagine themselves living it too.