The Downside of Grit
This should be subtitled, why social media will never replace a good bookmarking program/site. I came across this intriguing article listing some of the long-term health problems that increase in people who experience upward mobility due to their personal effort. As I sometimes do, I had “shared” it via Facebook, but neglected to bookmark it. There have been numerous discussions of the importance of “grit” for low-income students, and I’ve wished I had this to add to that conversation. Thankfully, I’ve lost some other post/comment I made, and found this gem. I think this article puts “grit” in perspective, and shows the limits of “resilience” and “perseverance” as an “equalizer”. A couple thoughts from my fine friends Xian Barrett and Sabrina Joy Stevens which basically boil down to this, sometimes just showing up requires a pretty substantial level of tenacity and effort and all this talk of building “grit” seems to ignore the fact they already have it.