Case Scenario: The Trouble with Grit
Samantha, a student at Hillside School, loves science. "Are we doing lab work today?" she often asks Ms. Grady as she hurries into science class. She usually aces quizzes and tests and even helps classmates with their work.
So Ms. Grady can't understand why Samantha rarely turns in homework. She knows Samantha's family is experiencing poverty, so her first impulse was to wonder whether there were issues at home. She has reached out to colleagues who teach Samantha's younger siblings to inquire whether they notice similar patterns. She learned Samantha's younger siblings always turn in their homework.
Ms.Grady also has reached out to Samanthaevery way she knows how, pleading with her. "You could have an A if you did your homework! You have the smarts, now you need to show that you have the grit." She has reachedout to Samantha's parents, too. She has called the phone number they provided the school, but nobody answers.
Imagine how successful Samanthacould be if her parentshelped support her, Ms. Grady has thought. She has grown increasingly frustrated trying to support Samantha. She has dozens of other students who also need attention, most without Samantha's natural gifts. And her grading policy is clear: failure to turn in homework results in a grade of "0." If she bends her policy for Samantha, she believes, she risks being unfair to other students.
One day after school Ms. Grady approaches Mr. Burns, a language arts teacher who also has Samantha in class. "I've tried to reach her parents," she explains, "but they never respond. Don't they care about her grades?"
"Ihad the same experience. I didn't know what to think until I visitedthem at home," Mr. Burns replies.
It never occurredto Ms. Grady to visit Samantha's home. "What did you learn?"
"A lot," he answers, explaining how Samantha lives with a single mother who works multiple jobs, beginning her day at 5 a.m. on a restaurant cleaning crew and ending around 9:30 p.m. on another cleaning crew. She usually returns around 10 p.m., trying not to wake the kids.
"So that's why Samantha struggles with homework. The moment she's home from school she's helping her siblings until they go to bed," Mr. Burns explains.
"Poor thing," Ms. Grady replies. "Her mother is not helping Samantha develop the grit and mindset neededto break theircycle of poverty."
Mr. Burns, who had grown up in poverty, was uncomfortable with how Ms. Grady was characterizing the problem: as irresponsibility on Samantha's mother's part and as a lack of grit on Samantha's part. He knew the situation was more complex than that, but couldn't quite find words to articulate his concern. He also knew Ms. Grady was not alone in her beliefs about Samantha's family and other families experiencing poverty. He worried the school's new focus on "grit" would contribute to their misunderstandings.
He wanted to respond productively, but how?
Q1. An equality view dictates we treat all students equally. This is the view Ms. Grady has applied to her homework policy when it comes to Samantha. How might her perspective change if she adopted an equity view instead, taking stock of the barriers and challenges individual students experience and crafting policy to be responsive to those barriers and challenges?
Q2. Do you agree with Ms. Grady that Samanthais displaying a lack of grit by not turning in her homework? Why or why not? In what ways is Samantha demonstrating grit and resilience?
Q3. Mr. Burns worries that Ms. Grady and several of his other colleagues have a deficit view of families experiencing poverty, tending to attribute conditions like Samantha not turning in her homework to supposed deficiencies in those families. How might taking the deficit view force us into misunderstandings of the challenges and barriers students like Samantha face at school?