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Grit: The Power of Passion and Perseverance

By Angela Lee Duckworth
2013

Angela Lee Duckworth is a psychologist and author who studies grit and self-control at the University of
Pennsylvania. In this TED Talk, Duckworth discusses the role that grit plays in success. As you read, take
notes on what grit is and how it impacts an individual’s ability to overcome obstacles.

[1] When I was 27 years old, I left a very demanding

job in management consulting for a job that was
even more demanding: teaching. I went to teach
seventh graders math in the New York City public
schools. And like any teacher, I made quizzes and
tests. I gave out homework assignments. When
the work came back, I calculated grades.

What struck me was that IQ was not the only

difference between my best and my worst
students. Some of my strongest performers did "high School students in various classroom settings" by
1 Government of Prince Edward Island is licensed under CC BY-NC-
not have stratospheric IQ scores. Some of my ND 2.0.
smartest kids weren't doing so well. And that got
me thinking. The kinds of things you need to learn in seventh grade math, sure, they're hard: ratios,
decimals, the area of a parallelogram. But these concepts are not impossible, and I was firmly
convinced that every one of my students could learn the material if they worked hard and long
enough.

After several more years of teaching, I came to the conclusion that what we need in education is a
much better understanding of students and learning from a motivational perspective, from a
psychological perspective. In education, the one thing we know how to measure best is IQ. But what if
doing well in school and in life depends on much more than your ability to learn quickly and easily?

So I left the classroom, and I went to graduate school to become a psychologist. I started studying kids
and adults in all kinds of super challenging settings, and in every study my question was, who is
successful here and why? My research team and I went to West Point Military Academy. We tried to
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predict which cadets would stay in military training and which would drop out. We went to the
National Spelling Bee and tried to predict which children would advance farthest in competition. We
studied rookie teachers working in really tough neighborhoods, asking which teachers are still going to
be here in teaching by the end of the school year, and of those, who will be the most effective at
improving learning outcomes for their students? We partnered with private companies, asking, which
of these salespeople is going to keep their jobs? And who's going to earn the most money? In all those
very different contexts, one characteristic emerged as a significant predictor of success. And it wasn't
social intelligence. It wasn't good looks, physical health, and it wasn't IQ. It was grit.

1. extremely high
2. a person being trained for the armed services
[5] Grit is passion and perseverance for very long-term goals. Grit is having stamina. Grit is sticking with
your future, day in, day out, not just for the week, not just for the month, but for years, and working
really hard to make that future a reality. Grit is living life like it's a marathon, not a sprint.

A few years ago, I started studying grit in the Chicago public schools. I asked thousands of high school
juniors to take grit questionnaires, and then waited around more than a year to see who would
graduate. Turns out that grittier kids were significantly more likely to graduate, even when I matched
them on every characteristic I could measure, things like family income, standardized achievement test
scores, even how safe kids felt when they were at school. So it's not just at West Point or the National
Spelling Bee that grit matters. It's also in school, especially for kids at risk for dropping out.

To me, the most shocking thing about grit is how little we know, how little science knows, about
building it. Every day, parents and teachers ask me, "How do I build grit in kids? What do I do to teach
kids a solid work ethic? How do I keep them motivated for the long run?" The honest answer is, I don't
know. (Laughter)

What I do know is that talent doesn't make you gritty. Our data show very clearly that there are many
talented individuals who simply do not follow through on their commitments. In fact, in our data, grit is
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usually unrelated or even inversely related to measures of talent.

So far, the best idea I've heard about building grit in kids is something called "growth mindset." This is
an idea developed at Stanford University by Carol Dweck, and it is the belief that the ability to learn is
not fixed, that it can change with your effort. Dr. Dweck has shown that when kids read and learn
about the brain and how it changes and grows in response to challenge, they're much more likely to
persevere when they fail, because they don't believe that failure is a permanent condition.

[10] So growth mindset is a great idea for building grit. But we need more. And that's where I'm going to
end my remarks, because that's where we are. That's the work that stands before us. We need to take
our best ideas, our strongest intuitions, and we need to test them. We need to measure whether we've
been successful, and we have to be willing to fail, to be wrong, to start over again with lessons learned.

In other words, we need to be gritty about getting our kids grittier.

Thank you. (Applause)

“Grit: The Power of Passion and Perseverance” from TED Talks Education by Angela Lee Duckworth. Copyright © 2013 by TED. This text is
licensed under CC BY-NC-ND 4.0.

3. in the opposite manner, position, or order

 Text-Dependent Questions
Directions: For the following questions, choose the best answer or respond in complete sentences.

1. PART A: Which of the following best identifies Duckworth’s claim in the speech?
A. A common trait that successful people possess is grit, as it pushes them to
persevere despite obstacles.
B. Teachers are unable to help students succeed if they don’t understand what
drives them.
C. Grit is not a trait that is easily developed, rather, it something that people are
usually born with.
D. People who lack talent are more likely to have grit, as they have to work harder
for their success.

2. PART B: Which detail from the text best supports the answer to Part A?
A. “I came to the conclusion that what we need in education is a much better
understanding of students and learning from a motivational perspective,”
(Paragraph 3)
B. “Grit is sticking with your future, day in, day out, not just for the week, not just
for the month, but for years, and working really hard to make that future a
reality.” (Paragraph 5)
C. “‘How do I build grit in kids? What do I do to teach kids a solid work ethic? How
do I keep them motivated for the long run?’ The honest answer is, I don't know.”
(Paragraph 7)
D. “What I do know is that talent doesn't make you gritty. Our data show very
clearly that there are many talented individuals who simply do not follow
through on their commitments.” (Paragraph 8)

3. What connection does the speaker draw between “growth mindset” and “grit”?
A. Both growth mindset and grit are necessary for students to succeed.
B. Students show grit when they understand and develop a growth mindset.
C. Students can see the effects of growth mindset once they’ve practiced grit.
D. Students can’t develop grit without understanding growth mindset.

4. How did Duckworth’s experiences as a teacher contribute to the text?

 Discussion Questions
Directions: Brainstorm your answers to the following questions in the space provided. Be prepared to
share your original ideas in a class discussion.

1. Do you agree with Duckworth’s findings on grit? Why or why not?

2. In the context of the text, what should be the goal of education? How do you think
Duckworth’s findings can be used to promote greater academic success in students? Cite
examples from the text, your own experience, and other literature, art, or history in your
answer.

3. In the context of the text, what does it take to succeed? Do you think that grit is a necessary
trait in all forms of success? Why or why not?

4. Do you think grit is an important part of an individual’s identity? Why or why not? Do you
think it matters whether or not you are born with grit or develop grit? Cite examples from
the text, your own experience, and other literature, art, or history in your answer.