7 Ideas to Build
Perseverance in Students
Several
years ago, researchers from the U.S. traveled to Singapore to uncover why
students there consistently scored in the top world rankings for math.
(American students typically rank around
30 in the world rankings.)
What
Singapore Teachers Teach…
As
the researchers were in Singapore, they were looking for an amazing new
solution they could bring back to U.S. schools. But instead of a grand key,
they found that as Singapore students did their work, they were consistently
reinforced with two ideas: attitude and perseverance. As a result, the
researchers saw that students in Singapore were “willing and eager to tackle
any problem the teacher gave them, without even a hint of complaint.”
As
part of the researchers’ study, Singaporean teachers permitted an experiment.
They grouped third graders into small groups and gave them a math problem from
a higher-level workbook, which contained principles they hadn’t learned yet.
Then, the teachers instructed the students to work on the problem as long as
they needed. Immediately, their tenacity was apparent: “Not a single kid asked
the teacher why they were given this difficult problem, or why the problem
contained topics they had not covered.” Instead, they worked on the problem
within their groups for over an hour, drawing models to help them figure out
the steps to the solution. They worked until the teacher forced them to stop.
Some groups had completed the problem, but all had at least uncovered a few
correct steps. This showed the researchers how well “perseverance” was
ingrained in these students.
Meanwhile,
Back Home…
When
the researchers arrived back in the U.S., they set up a similar experiment on
American students, following the same steps they created in Singapore. The
results, however, were drastically different. Whereas Singaporean students
worked until they were forced to stop, American students on average spent
only 34 seconds before proceeding to quit. They were quoted as
saying, “I don’t get it,” “I’m done,” “This is too hard,” and “How do they
expect us to know this?” As a result, researchers concluded that the attitude
and perseverance of American students was almost nonexistent in comparison to
Singaporean students.
What
Causes American Kids to Give Up So Easily?
Let
me venture to suggest a number of reasons why perseverance is down:
1. Instead of reinforcing
tenacity, we make life convenient for our children. We have worked to remove
(not embrace) difficulties, viewing them as negative.
2. They have an incorrect
perception of what it takes to achieve great things. They watch highlight reels
on SportsCenter, but never see the hours of practice athletes put in to be able
to dunk a basketball or hit a curve ball.
3. All the answers they need
are at their fingertips on a portable device. Instead of learning critical
thinking skills, they ask Google. It’s an instant answer.
4. When solutions don’t come quickly,
an adult (often a parent) swoops in to save the day. Their commitment muscle
atrophies from disuse.
Does
this speak to every American student? Of course not. Do we
teach kids every day to work hard and struggle through their problems? Yes. But
I’d be willing to bet that most teachers in the U.S., at any level of
education, have seen this lack of perseverance in their classroom. It’s the kid
who buys a new video game and can’t get past the first level after two minutes.
Instead of working hard and long, he or she goes to the Internet to find a
cheat code that will take him straight to level two with no effort at all. This
is more the norm now than the exception.
From Tim Elmore & GrowingLeaders.com
