Grit repackages self-discipline. Persistence is amoral and sometimes unhealthy, Duckworth’s evidence is partly circular, and the grit agenda shifts attention from curriculum to children’s compliance.
Arguments
- West Point: grit predicted not quitting. “What does that prove, other than that people who are persistent persist?”
- Spelling Bee: grit predicted performance; openness to experience predicted worse performance.
- Miller & Wrosch: people who can disengage from unattainable goals have better well-being.
- “This would be a better world if people who were up to no good had less grit.”
Instead
Teach when to persist and when to quit; choose worthwhile goals first; make the curriculum engaging; give students decisions.
Counter-evidence (Claude)
Credé, Tynan & Harms (2017, JPSP) meta-analysis: grit overlaps heavily with conscientiousness and adds little predictive power. That supports Kohn’s scepticism empirically.
Apply in my context (Claude)
- Conduct systems framed as “self-discipline” scores fall into this trap. Measure the conditions (task design, pitch) as well as the child.
Connections
Beyond discipline - compliance is not commitment · Rewards undermine interest in the rewarded activity