Question

6. Do you think the media articles fairly represent the concept of grit that Duckworth and colleagues (2007) propose in their article? Why or why not?

Answer 1

Note: This response is in UK English, please paste the response to MS Word and you should be able to spot discrepancies easily. You may elaborate the answer based on personal views or your classwork if necessary.

(Answer) For a fairly long time, the media and the society in unison, have uplifted the image of an Ivy League student or a child with exceptional IQ and other such privileges. It is true that these students have possibly worked quite hard to achieve their positions and their cognitive abilities. Also, it is not untrue that, a student with an average education and a decent intellect is not just as valuable to the society.

In the paper “Grit: Perseverance and Passion for Long-Term Goals,” for the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, the value of several aspects of one’s temperament are analysed in relativity to each other. The researchers test the candidates based on the relevance of a particular non-cognitive trait – grit.

Grit is a sense of resolve and courage that is attained through a strong character. In the study for this paper, the researchers study students from Ivy League universities, spelling bee championships, the military, West point cadets etc. The study showed no specific correlation between the education of the individual and the grit that they might possess in the workplace.

In other words, a strength of character is not necessarily found in an expensive textbook. On the other hand, the media, pop-culture and society still value a student from an Ivy League far more than a student from a normal university. The concept of Duckworth’s article is that grit is more than the talent of an individual with a high IQ; it is the talent that is focused over a long period of time to hone a certain strong character. This characteristic is not particularly portrayed as something that is quite coveted within the media and the society.

Perhaps, it is elitist to value a student from an expensive university or one that has clearly had a life of privilege as compared to one from a lower background who might not have had the same privileges as the former. A higher standing in society is probably in this case, determined by the institutions and strata that the wealthy are prone to come from as opposed to the middle class.