"I have learned that success is to be measured not so much by the position that one has reached in life as by the obstacles overcome while trying to succeed."
– Booker T. Washington (1856-1915) – American educator, author, orator, and adviser to several presidents of the United States
Youth – I'll use the U.N. definition of “a human being below the age of 18 years” – can accomplish tasks most people believe are far beyond their reach. With enthusiasm and vigor, they are capable of accepting difficult challenges and working through them with inexhaustible energy. In the process, their younger and bolder spirits supply both creativity and a spirit of adventure that often pave the way for fresh outlooks and understandings.
In my teaching career at Valley High School, I saw this play out so frequently that I became a disciple of higher expectations. Student after student accepted challenges of difficult assignments in my class and made me marvel at their continual, steady progress. How fortunate I was to teach these talented individuals. I witnessed them finding greater confidence and taking more and more challenges in stride. Also, how proud I became of their work.
Adults need not be helpless observers as children progress to young adulthood. Adults should develop a relationship of trust with young people. They must become a source of comfort and support as well a source of knowledge in teaching them how to manage life’s stressors and get through challenges. These adults are essential mentors who monitor and help guide them to new educational plateaus – they are there at the side of children as they “take off the training wheels” and learn to transverse their new horizons.
To excel and to reach potential, youth must be challenged. If they languish in mediocrity, they loss interest and become restless. The human body serves as a metaphor for understanding the importance of a challenge, for the simple reason that the body is built to adapt and respond to demands that are placed upon it.
Physical muscles continue to grow and strengthen through the Principle of Progressive Resistance. This principle is based on the theory that muscles must be challenged in order to upgrade and grow, and that they will progressively work to overcome a resistance force when required to do so. The opposite is also true, as physical muscles will downgrade and weaken with the absence of a challenge.
A children need intellectual challenges that stretch their minds, forces them to overcome adversity, tests their character and commitment, and inspire them to leave that “mediocre comfort zone.”
Marilyn Price-Mitchell Ph.D. – developmental psychologist, researcher, and Institute for Social Innovation Fellow at Fielding Graduate University – writes …
“Some believe children are born with an initiative gene or that the word simply implies motivation. Others confuse it with achievement. For example, if a child gets an A grade or accepted to a prestigious college, then people think they must have initiative. It is one of those fuzzy words, raising notions of everything from whether children volunteer to do the dishes to whether they succeed at soccer.
“While initiative is understandably complex, many years of research helps us appreciate its importance and why some young people have more of it than others. Simply stated, initiative is the ability to propel life forward in purposeful directions. It involves both inner motivation and outward means to accomplish long-term goals.
“Initiative is developed in adolescence, through mastery experiences and through supportive relationships that teenagers form with adults. These experiences and relationships account for more than 75% of life success – more than IQ and genes combined.”
(Marilyn Price-Mitchell. “What Teens Learn by Overcoming Challenges.” Psychology Today. June 26, 2011.)
Positive initiative develops when children are instilled with values like kindness, compassion, and empathy for others. When teenagers integrate these values into their identities, they are more likely to take initiative in ways that benefit themselves, society, and their future employers.
According to Price-Mitchell, initiative-building learning should have three important aspects:
Children must choose projects or activities because it gives them internal rewards. For example, internal rewards include creativity, dignity, autonomy, or making a difference in other people's lives. Service-learning is one example that provides adolescents with choice and internal rewards, combined with a focus on academic learning. Other choices of activities are outside of school, including sports, music, and other pursuits that feed the soul.
Young people must face activities of their own choosing. It is important that they take place in environments that contain rules, challenges, and complexities that are inherent in the real world. For example, teenagers must face intellectual, interpersonal, and intrapersonal challenges.
Away from the influence of protective parents, they must have opportunities to think critically about themselves and the world, learn to get along with peers and adults, and reflect on their progress. They may be judged by others and given feedback that prompts an adjustment to strategies or behavior.
Young people must learn to sustain activities over time, despite the challenges. Rather than doing a lot of different things, it is more helpful to focus on a few for longer periods of time. This teaches perseverance and provides greater opportunity for a variety of challenges. Often, the greatest learning comes from the most difficult circumstances.
To Me
I taught high school English and, particularly writing, for many years. I found young people to be simply amazing when challenged to task. Granted, understanding their limits was part of the necessary instruction; however, so many found that challenging assignments (often work at first they doubted they could do) not only stretched their muscles, but also built their confidence. By giving them choices, the opportunity to express their authentic voices, and constant feedback – from both me, their instructor, and their peers – they became successful independent learners.
How do I know this? So many of the seniors I taught came back after college and told me how they had used our classroom strategies to tackle college assignments. At that point in their lives, they were very appreciative of the challenges they once rather reluctantly had accepted (some with genuine fear and loathing) and had applied to their post-secondary success, Nietzsche comes to mind: “That which does not kill us, makes us stronger.”
You see, as a teacher, I was buoyed by these wonderful young people. They achieved so much for themselves. Oh yes, I had “straight-A's” without parallel who soared far above others, but I also had so many who found their reward was steadu improvement, who found their initiative could push their personal goals of achievement to higher levels and who incorporated challenge as a way of life. God bless them.
When young people dare to accept challenges, their goal is not achieving perfection. In fact, they learn that constant revision and occasional failure are learning experiences in themselves. They become critical of their own work and understand their continued success relies on constant improvement – they learn to strive toward better and better work.
Consider this research:
Carol Dweck, a professor at Stanford University, studies the importance of challenging children, even if they get things wrong. Her research shows that praising children for their intelligence can actually make them less likely to persist in the face of challenge. She and her colleagues followed hundreds of 5th grade children in New York City schools. One group was praised for their intelligence while the other group was praised for their effort.
When the 5th graders were challenged with an extremely difficult test designed for 8th graders, a surprising result occurred. The students who had been praised for their effort worked very hard, even though they made a lot of mistakes. The kids praised for being smart became discouraged and saw their mistakes as a sign of failure. Intelligence testing for the kids praised for their effort increased by 30% while the kids praised for their intelligence dropped by 20%.
(Marilyn Price-Mitchell. “Mistakes Improve Children's Learning.” Psychology Today. September 07, 2011.)
Think about Dweck's findings. Do you believe that creativity can be learned? Dweck’s research has led her to the conclusion that each individual will place themselves on a continuum according to their implicit belief of where their own ability originates.
In simple terms, this means that those who tend towards believing in “nature” or innate ability as the prime factor in determining their success are defined in Dweck’s model as having “fixed mindsets” or fixed theories of intelligence.
At the other end of the continuum are those that believe their success, and the success of others comes from hard work, learning, and persistence. These people are defined as having “growth mindsets” or incremental theories of intelligence.
(Carol S. Dweck. Mindset: The New Psychology of Success. December 26, 2007.)
“The wrong kind of praise creates self-defeating behavior. The right kind motivates students to learn.”
– Carol Dweck
In the case of my career. I – like all teachers and writers I know – understand that actual blood, sweat, and relentless pursuit produce great improvement. In that growth mindset, people believe that their talents and abilities can be developed through passion, education, and persistence. For them, it’s not about looking smart or grooming their image.
Instead, it’s about a commitment to learning – taking informed risks and learning from the results, surrounding yourself with people who will challenge you to grow, looking frankly at your deficiencies and seeking to remedy them.
“Most great business leaders have had this mindset because building and maintaining excellent organizations in the face of constant change requires it.”
– Carol Dweck
Challenge youth and praise them the right way. Instill in them the ability to take on difficult tasks and to confidently understand that their efforts will pay dividends. They should also rest assured that others around them identify their initiative and hard work as positive traits. They eventually become role models and mentors to those with growth mindsets.
A Final Word
Teaching in public schools and effectively guiding youth through meaningful lessons and assignments is very difficult work. Especially in this demanding technological world of today, teachers can never find enough time or never master all the skills needed to keep fully abreast of positive innovations. They have limited resources and great demands other than content instruction.
The recent wave of legislation by conservative lawmakers to push parents toward demanding absolute transparency of their children's education is creating undue pressure on American educators. Of course, parents must have a voice, but they should not dictate – as individuals with particular views – how teachers effectively communicate with their students.
A political belief that teachers are bent on liberally indoctrinating their students is unfounded, and, in fact, indicative of the desire to force schools to become ultra-conservative institutions stripped of individuality and alternate thought.
I agree with Price-Mitchell: students must face activities of their own choosing and pursuits that feed their souls. How does limiting free speech and freedom of expression help accomplish these initiatives? An atmosphere of fear and repression chokes students and causes them to doubt the value of diversity. I hope people realize this and fight for the rights of all students, not just some.
To close, I would remind ultra-conservatives that our lives and our cultures are composed of many overlapping stories. We need to be at liberty to express our “stories.” Single stories – single narratives that limit diversity – often originate from simple misunderstandings or one’s lack of knowledge of others, but these stories can also have a malicious intent to suppress other groups of people due to prejudice. Permitting diversity instead of just preaching a single story is important … and encouraging students to examine concessions to an argument enriches the student body and creates new, vital understandings.
Life Is A Challenge
Poet: Edgar A. Guest (1881-1959) Poet Laureate of Michigan
Life is a challenge to the bold,
It flings its gauntlet down
And bids us, if we seek for gold
And glory and renown,
To come and take them from its store,
It will not meekly hand them o'er.
Life is a challenge all must meet,
And nobly must we dare;
Its gold is tawdry when we cheat,
Its fame a bitter snare
If it be stolen from life's clutch;
Men must be true to prosper much.
Life is a challenge and its laws
Are rigid ones and stern;
The splendid joy of real applause
Each man must nobly earn.
It makes us win its jewels rare,
But gives us paste, if we're unfair.
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