Both the article, “ Angela Duckworth on Passion, Grit and Success” by Julie Scelfo and the Ted Talk with Angela Lee Duckworth discuss the concept and the importance of Grit.  Leaving a high-flying job in consulting Angela Duckworth took a job teaching math to seventh graders at a New York high school.  While she was teaching Angela noticed that IQ was not the only thing that separates successful students and non successful students. This is where she came up with the theory of Grit.  According to both sources Grit is a term defined as a combination of passion and perseverance for a singularly important goal. Grit shows a person’s hard work and ability to be committed to a long term goal.  People who come from a loving home, are kind, curious, and have good grades generally don’t succeed if they do not know how to work hard, if they don’t know how to be Gritty.

One major question is , why is Grit so important? In the article Julie Scelfo mentions, “My lab has found that this measure beats the pants off I.Q., SAT scores, physical fitness and a bazillion other measures to help us know in advance which individuals will be successful in some situations.” This evidences shows how Grit is important because it emphasizes the matter that students don’t need SAT scores or I.Q’s to determine whether they will succeed in life, all they need is Grit. It emphasizes that Grit is a term of hard working and perseverance and if you have that you will succeed in life and have the ability to go somewhere.  Furthermore In the Ted Talk Angela Duckworth mentions, “ Grit is living life like it's a marathon, not a sprint.” This piece of evidence shows that Grit is for the long run not some short little distance that will be over within 13 seconds. Grit is term used as hardworking, and is used in students who are hard working and looking to succeed in life, and go for the long run, living life as if its a marathon. Also in the Ted Talk Angela Duckworth says, “A few years ago, I started studying grit in the Chicago public schools. I asked thousands of high school juniors to take grit questionnaires, and then waited around more than a year to see who would graduate. Turns out that grittier kids were significantly more likely to graduate, even when I matched them on every characteristic I could measure, things like family income, standardized achievement test scores, even how safe kids felt when they were at school.” Continuing on about the initial question this shows why Grit is important because after the students took the test Angela Duckworth took the results and the students who scored highest were the exact students that graduated and had the chance at a successful life. Grit is important because it determines which students will go far in life and which students will hold back and only sprint. The key to being “gritter” is to be hardworking and persevering.

In my opinion the concept of Grit can be helpful to many students at any age looking to go the extra mile in life. Persevering is sticking with an idea for a long time no matter how hard it gets. I think no matter what score you get on the Grit Scale, it can push students to work harder. No matter whether you have great grades, or come from a stable home if you do not have the mindset of a lifelong goal you most likely will not succeed. I believe that if students take the Grit Scale test early they will recognize that they have to work harder to achieve lifelong goals. In my opinion I think Grit will influence students to work hard in life. I took the Grit Scale test and my score was a 4.50 out of 5. Knowing that I can still succeed in life with a high Grit score isn’t enough. Now that I know I can go the extra mile and push myself to work harder for that extra .50, I am going to push myself so that I can work harder. Moreover, now that I know my Grit score I want to succeed more to my abilities, and work even harder.