Grit and the Power of Perseverance

Shannon Riggins, PharmD

PGY2 Geriatric Pharmacy Resident

University of Maryland School of Pharmacy

Throughout the educational theory and practice course, we have talked about different types of learners and the differences in andragogy vs. pedagogy. This course has discussed the variant philosophies of internal motivation vs. that of external motivation. We have asked ourselves, is success dependent on the learner’s own accountability and ownership, or is it shared between the learner and the teacher?

In a ted talk led by psychologist Angela Lee Duckworth1, she shares her philosophy about perseverance and the power of grit in determining someone’s likelihood to be successful. Starting out as a seventh grade school teacher in a New York City public school system, she had begun noticing that IQ was not the only difference between some of her students. She noticed that some of her strongest performers did not have a high IQ, and some of her smartest students were struggling. This is where she began to question what factors were indicative of one’s ability to be successful and how do we predict that?

She began researching among a variety of populations with the question, who was successful and why? She studied cadets at West Point Academy to see who would stay through training vs those that would drop out. She evaluated competitors at a national spelling bee to see which children would advance the furthest. She even evaluated teachers who taught in a rough neighborhood to see who would still be teaching there at the end of the year, and of those teachers, which would be the most effective in improving learning outcomes for their students? What she began to find was that “grit” was the most common factor that determined the likelihood of these individual’s success.

Duckworth defines this grit as passion and perseverance towards a long-term goal. She was finding repeatedly, that those who had grit were far more likely to succeed in their long term goals. She then began testing this theory in the Chicago public school system utilizing a grit questionnaire.2 It was a self-reported questionnaire and over time she measured the correlation between their measure of grit, and their likelihood to graduate. When the students were compared against numerous other characteristics that could affect the outcome, grit was still the biggest predictor in the student’s likelihood to graduate. Her studies also found that the characteristic of grit, was usually unrelated and most often times inversely related to talent.

While this information is eye opening, the question that remains, is how do we encourage and cultivate this characteristic of grit in our students and ourselves? Duckworth suggests that the philosophy of a “growth mindset” which was founded by Dr. Caroll Dweck at Stanford University may be the answer. This philosophy supports the idea that when students believe that they can get smarter and that effort makes them stronger, they are more likely to succeed and persevere through failures as they realize that it is no longer a permanent state.3

So what does this mean for us as pharmacy educators? What does this mean for our students? How do we use this information to empower both our learners and ourselves? As I have listened to this ted talk, and researched into the growth mindset theory, I’ve concluded that like all variant theories and philosophies, it’s something to consider when determining our teaching philosophies and the needs of our students. Encouraging activities like self-reflection, and rewarding hard work and determination or even incorporating words like “yet” (i.e. “you have not mastered patient counseling yet”) are just a few ways to facilitate the process of growth mindset.

Overall, I think this video is a good reminder that whether our classrooms require an andragogy vs pedagogy approach, we can still encourage this philosophy of growth mindset in our teachings, and foster their perseverance towards both their success, and our own.

Bibliography
1. Duckworth, A. L. (n.d.). Grit: The power of passion and perseverance. Retrieved September 20, 2019, from https://www.ted.com/talks/angela_lee_duckworth_grit_the_power_of_passion_and_perseverance.
2. Duckworth, A. (n.d.). Grit: Perseverance and passion for long-term goals. Retrieved September 21, 2019, from https://psycnet.apa.org/record/2007-07951-009.
3. Dweck, C. (n.d.). Decades of Scientific Research that Started a Growth Mindset Revolution. Retrieved September 21, 2019, from https://www.mindsetworks.com/science/.