Grit.  This has become not just a buzzword in education circles, but somewhat of a rallying cry for public education in America.  Our children need more grit.  They need grit to survive through college and life.  Parents, teachers, countrymen, let’s instill in our children grit.  It is the most important predictor for academic and life success. 

As a nation, how well are our students doing at grit?  To summarize in technical academic terms:  we suck.

Complete College America issued a report last year called “The Four Year Myth”.    The report says that just 36% of college students at our nation’s flagship universities complete a degree in four years.  The number drops to just 19% at lesser universities.  For 2-year associate degrees, only 5% complete on time.  So prevalent are these statistics that most colleges and researchers alike now quote graduation rates over six years of time instead of four. The majority of students (two-thirds or more) do not complete any kind of college degree in six years. 

Sadly, these statistics do not even capture the number of students of poverty who never even attempt to go to college.  If children from parents with the socio-economic status, means and wherewithal are not completing college, what does that mean for children and families of lesser means?

I do not have a magic wand or deeply embedded strategy to fix grit. What I can tell you is that managing schools in the inner city of Detroit and Newark puts us front and center with this topic.  What I’ve learned from our work is that we look at grit from the wrong end of the telescope.  We think that we can design grit inside schools in such a way so that it zooms from a student’s life inside school to affect that student’s life outside school. 

Truthfully, our students at our charter school in Newark, Merit Prep, and their lives outside school are filled with grit already.  They have to demonstrate grit to persevere and just come to school.  Our challenge is not so much to create grit inside them so much as to harness the grit they already have and what life has already taught them. 

Take Alberto Salgado, a 9th grade student at Merit Prep who has been attending our school since it first opened and he was a 6th grader.  Alberto is a bright student with a bright future.  He understands our innovative personalized model as well as any student in the school and can explain it as well as anyone we have on staff.  This was an unusually hard week for Alberto and his family.  His father passed away on Sunday after a gritty two-year battle with his liver.  I was therefore really surprised to see him at school this week.  I asked him why he came to school and whether he wanted to take a few days off.  Alberto’s response:

“After my father died, the family grew very close and separated simultaneously. We were there for each other throughout this tough time but we also argued a lot. I had to put my differences to the side. I was grieving and stressing. Everything was just coming down on me and I felt like I had to take control of things since my father is not here anymore. Even though my father had recently passed, the world was still going on. Schoolwork remained, track proceeded and my life was going on, day by day. Times were tough but I still remain strong. I know my father would want me to not only succeed and go forward in life, but he would also want me to go even harder. Every morning, I look at myself in the mirror and say to myself ‘Today is a new day for better decisions than yesterday’. How I start my day strong is how I would like to finish it. Life situations will try to set you back and bring you down but don't let that affect you. Day by day, grind harder than you did yesterday. Life is difficult and it's meant to bring you down, unless you don't allow it and make brighter decisions.”

Alberto and his family are struggling to find the funds to cover the unexpected cost of his father’s funeral.  They’ve sent up a funding page for those of you who may be inspired by this young man’s life and gift of grit.