Giving Compass' Take:

• Angela Duckworth is best known for work on grit, but since she received backlash on her research she is expanding to a model of character development for students that goes beyond grit. 

• How does research risk oversimplifying complicated problems? What solutions can be used to combat this? 

• Babies as young as 13 months can learn about grit and resilience from adults. 

Angela Duckworth’s research on encouraging “grit” in students has been hailed as groundbreaking, popularized in bestselling books and TED talks. It has also been called problematic, and some have criticized the work for essentially blaming students for their circumstances.

What do you think people most misunderstand about your well-known research on “grit”?

Duckworth: Sometimes, I think people believe that I or others see grit as the only thing kids need to be successful and happy. In fact, I think character is a very long list of things that kids need to be happy and productive.

Do you worry that things may have happened in the name of grit and your research that you didn't intend? Do you have any concern about that?

D: I probably don't know enough about the misapplication of the idea of grit. I think the more I know, the more I worry. I do think that kids need to learn to work hard. I don't think we're born knowing how to work hard.

What would you do differently if you taught in a K-12 classroom, now that you know what you know from your research?

D: One thing I would do differently is provide a ritual and an opportunity. A ritual in my classroom where, instead of just pushing forward in the curriculum, I would actually make it much more mastery-oriented. I would make it possible for kids to catch up and to really work on the things that they didn't quite get.

Read the full article about building character by Jeffrey R. Young at EdSurge.