"Resilience helps kids more than high SATs do," writes Belinda Luscombe in Time (September 10, 2012). Getting good grades has been the mantra of anxious parents..."but now there's a trickle of thought that says academic ability may not be all it's cracked up to be. Rather than so much focus on cognitive skills, some heretics suggest, a little more grit is what kids really need."
Luscombe refers to a new book by Paul Tough, How Children Succeed, in which he observes that ... "while IQ is stubborn to change after age 8, the ability to persist, focus, and adapt is more malleable, even into early adulthood. And while IQ may be what gets kids into college, they need a whole other set of skills to graduate."
And while Tough focuses his attention on low-income families, Madeline Levine, looks at wealthy families in her book, Teach Your Children Well, and reaches a similar conclusion. Her tips to restore family sanity: "less emphasis on grades, more on values, less homework, more sleep, less fretting by parents, more encouraging."
Comments (3)
Displaying All 3 CommentsIndependent ECD Consultant
Blantyre, Southern Region, Malawi
Wealthy children should now be the focus of research since we have written a lot about the poor and not much is being done to uplift their lives. Now the wealthy are also having issues ob child development and really the saying TOO MUCH is poisonous is true coz we are seeing a lot of spoilt children from rich families
Independent ECD Consultant
Blantyre, Southern Region, Malawi
I am happy that Madeline has written on wealthy children. Mostly the focus inmost documents, research and articles is on the poor and vulnerable fogetting that the rich also have their own issues with the upbringing of their children. Thie rich are the ones that nowadays have found ways of glueing their children to TVs and providing junk food which is affecying childrens development in most societies negatively. I would like to read that book and see what she has said.
Alexandria, VA, United States
Resilience helps kids more that high SATs do
The question below "what is?" not explained and Irrelevant
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