- Oct 2016
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www.washingtonpost.com www.washingtonpost.com
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grit, perseverance and conscientiousness
could this just be having metacognition in general?
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Cultural differences might also help explain the performance gaps.
The book Outliers by Malcolm Gladwell further explains this topic of cultural differences. He explains why he feels that cultural differences are the most important factor in determining success in education (or just in general). He even cites Angela Duckworth's research in his book about how low-income kids have a harder time developing personalities necessary to achieve success. http://gladwell.com/outliers/
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being passionate and hard-working — is an important trait that predicts student achievement.
Passion leads to hard-work. One can work hard on something they dread, but there will never be any drive to do any further research or learning. If one is passion, they'll go out of their way to learn extra because it's something important to them. It's something they love and it's something they find find satisfaction in achieving.
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nstead, the traits related to work-study habits seemed to be the most predictive.
What shows better work-study habits, a standardized test score or one's GPA?
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study conducted last fall at the University of Toronto
Is this study applicable to all colleges? They didn't explain the specifics of the amount of people in the study or any statistics. It was also conducted in a different country so there could be confounding variables.
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Although they controlled for some aspects of students’ backgrounds, such as the education levels of their parents, it’s possible that other factors are responsible as well.
If you look at a students background, you can learn a lot about them. Their background shows how thrivers and divers are who they are. A person may come from low- income family and tries much harder to study to get into college, while a diver doesn't have to worry as much to get into college. Thrivers want to be intelligent and make a difference in the world to make their parents proud, while divers want to be successful and rich like their parents.
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“conscientiousness.” Compared with the average student, divers were less likely to describe themselves as organized or detail-oriented, less likely to say that they are prepared, that they follow a schedule or that they get work done right away. Divers were also more likely to say they crammed for exams and more likely to score highly on measures of impatience.
Conscientiousness is a trait that people to do things more carefully and watch what they are doing. As opposed to divers, they are not as careful and tend to be more disorganized. However, divers can do work effectively if they listen to when upcoming assignments are due and be prepared, but this is not the case. In college, my professors give me a lesson plan so that i complete my work on time, which is very effective and efficient. With all of these negative characteristics, how were divers able to graduate form high school?
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It was more difficult to predict which college students would outperform their high school transcripts. One trait that stood out was the amount of time that students studied. Thrivers arrived at college ready to work hard. Compared with the divers, the thrivers planned to study three additional hours a week, on average.
Sometimes, it is not easy to come up with a study plan. There is simply no time or you have to many assignments. In my first few weeks of high school, I was prepared to finish all my assignments and study for any exams. Sooner or later though, I was drowning in college work that I couldn't come up with a schedule or find time to finish the assignments for each class.
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But that does not mean that high school grades are good predictors.
Grades don't always demonstrate what you are good at. You may may be intelligent or have skills in a specific area that schools do not teach you. You could also be doing really well in one subject, while failing other subjects, which doesn't always show with your grades or GPA.
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The first year of college is a tough transition, and for many students, a disillusioning one.
Going into college was hard for me because I had to make new friends and meet new professors. There was also more of a work load than in high school.
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Compared with the divers, the thrivers planned to study three additional hours a week, on average.
This could be because "divers" assume that they are smart enough as is and can keep their high school study habits. They got comfortable in high school study methods and don't strive to go farther than that.
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manage chaos and temptation.
College is an environment where everything can move seemingly quick around you, giving you a limited time to catch your bearings. If you manage to control this chaos you can find yourself thriving where others are failing. A reason many people fail with this is that they give into temptations that they otherwise wouldn't. They see life moving so quickly before there eyes that they make decisions that their old selves would deem irrational. Giving into these temptations could hurt your chances at future success in and out of college.
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For instance, the study found some evidence that divers were more likely to spend time working outside jobs during the school year, which hints at financial stress as a complicating circumstance in their lives.
Students success in college in correction with their previous financial status has always been something that has drawn my attention. Someone who is under the constant pressure of paying for their loans and working jobs to alleviate it would have a much different college experience than the normal student. All of this said, at the end of the day the students are required to take the same exams and be judged on the same guidelines. This common grading can show why students in financial stress struggle to stay on top of their grades. Another way of looking at it could be that these students could have a burning desire to get out of their situation and use academic success as a way to get out of it. At the end of the day you never know what your peers are going through and how much they have to deal with outside of their studies.
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divers were less likely to describe themselves as organized or detail-oriented,
As I continue to learn and develop as a college student I have been introduced to how much more effective one can be if they are properly organized. In college you are given a syllabus and are it is up to you to plan your time accordingly in order to get all of your assignments completed. Proper organization allows you to have a complete understanding of whats due and when. This understanding will allow you to effectively study and get all of your assignments done with a fair amount of time to review them.
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