Perseverance: The Subject That Doesn’t Get Taught

Written by Posted On Wednesday, 20 November 2019 02:02

As the common saying goes, nothing worth having ever comes easily. It's a phrase that's supposed to remind us that when we fail, we should try again, and that achieving success in life comes with grit and determination. We all know that as adults, and yet there isn't a 'grit and determination' course available at any of the schools we're aware of. 

We're not advocating for such a class to be introduced, but we think everyone could do more to make it part of the subjects that they teach, whether that's in school or at home. All of the educators among us can probably think of at least one example of a student who was academically gifted, but lacking in the application to the task that they'd require to achieve a stand-out grade. They're the kids that pass with a good mark as opposed to the great one their talent should have brought them. We can all think of times in life when we wished we'd tried harder at something, too, whether it was a test, a job, or a relationship. Perseverance is one of the most important attributes anybody could have, and yet very few of us teach it or preach it. 

It doesn’t have to be that way, though. There are many different ways that the concept of perseverance and achievement through persistence can be brought into classrooms as a study topic. Here are a few ideas to help you broach the subject. 

Use Real-World Examples

Many of the most successful people in the world endured repeated rejections and failures before they experienced success. The one that might resonate best with younger students is JK Rowling. The millionaire ‘Harry Potter’ author was rejected twelve times before she found a publisher willing to take a chance on the first book in her famous series, and she still has the letters to prove it. You'll almost certainly have students in your class who are huge 'Harry Potter' fans. Ask them what their lives would have been like if the character had never been invented, and the book and films had never happened. Ask them to consider the further implications of that, for example, what JK Rowling might be doing now, and where Daniel Radcliffe and Emma Watson might be. Encourage them to explore what made Rowling carry on when she was told no repeatedly. If JK Rowling doesn't work for you, try Simon Cowell - he went bankrupt twice before becoming a success. 

Discuss Their Life Goals

The majority of your children will have an idea as to what they might want to do when they grow up - even if the idea is a little outlandish! Make them create a checklist of what they need to do in order to achieve that goal, and help them out with it if they’re unsure. Consider allowing them to research every qualification or piece of training they would need to go through in order to be successful. Underline how much work it’s going to take, and then encourage them to consider what happens if they give up. What’s their backup plan? What would they do instead? Would it be better for them to try again, or to give up? This should help them to see the material benefits of persistence and perseverance in their own personal terms, and therefore emphasize its importance. 

Challenge “It’s Too Hard”

Because we mean well, as educators and mentors we can all be guilty of bowing to this sentence. Sometimes, a child faced with a task that they feel unable to complete will simply down tools and tell you 'it's too hard.' They become stressed, agitated, and upset. Because of that, our natural reaction is to sit with them, show them how to do what they need to do, and then essentially solve the problem for them so they can move on. That's great in the short term, but in the long term, it tells them that someone else will handle the difficult things for them. In practice, "it's too hard," often translates to "I don't want to put the effort in." Instead of trying to solve the problem for them, ask them what aspect of the problem is too hard for them to resolve. It might just be that they need to break the problem down into steps or find a point of focus so they can begin to tackle it. Encouraging them how to think around the problem is teaching persistence. Showing them how to solve it is, sadly, teaching laziness. 

Show The Value Of Repetition

This is a hard concept to teach, but an important one to grasp. The ideal way of teaching it is one that isn't really available to educators: it's the principle behind mobile slots! When we're playing mobile slots, we know that the first bet we make isn't likely to win us the jackpot. We simply have to keep putting money into the UK online slots until eventually, through the law of averages, it eventually pays out a prize. Winning isn't an inevitability at mobile slots, but nor is winning an inevitability in life. We simply have to persist in giving ourselves the best chance of success. Obviously, we can't teach children how to gamble, so if anyone can think of a practical way to introduce this into the classroom, we'd love to hear it!

Perhaps the best way to demonstrate it is to learn a new skill in front of your children. A musical instrument would be a good example to use. Bring the instrument into class, and demonstrate to your students that you're completely unable to play it. Practice each week and bring the instrument in on the same day each week to demonstrate your level of improvement. Be transparent with the class and tell them how many hours you've spent learning each week. Over time you'll be showing them how sustained effort results in incremental improvements. As a nice bonus at the end of it all, you'll have learned to play a new musical instrument, and you can now start a band in your spare time!

Having all the academic skill in the world is no use to a child who doesn’t know how to apply themselves to a task, or what the benefit of putting effort into a repetitive process can be. As educators, we have a duty to show them. Don’t just teach your specialist subject in the classroom - teach perseverance, too. 

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