Meet our Student of the Month!!

Grit – not IQ –  is the winning character, the recipe for success, in all aspects of life – including of course, to be a Math Rockstar! 

In this TED Talk “Grit: The power of passion and perseverance”, Angela Duckworth – who changed career from management consultant to 7^th grade math teacher to psychologist – conducted research in various different settings (West Point military academy training cadets, teachers, sales jobs, etc.) to find “who is successful?”. And again, she said that whatever the context is, one characteristic emerged as a significant predictor of success; it was not social intelligence, good looks, physical health or IQ, it was GRIT. “Grit is passion and perseverance for long-term goals. Grit is having stamina. Grit is sticking with your future, day in day out. Not just for the week, not just for the month, but for years – and working really hard to make that future a reality.”

Our Student of the Month certificate is in the form of tote bag – because paper certificate is too lame 😊 Congrats, Violet!

Consistent and steady attendance

All of our Students of the Month have consistent and steady attendance. Math is more like weight lifting than any other subjects. You cannot just read Math to learn Math but you need to do the exercises to build your neural network and cognitive structures to develop your math muscles. Winter, dark and snowing? No problem. They come anyway, even though they live 40 minutes away. To this, we also applaud parents’ commitments who don’t mind to drive their kids and wait for an hour or even two hours; I think that is an important lesson of grit that they instill to their kids.

Perseverance

Our Students of the Month work hard. Of course sometimes they feel frustrated when they face harder math problems – they expressed things like “I don’t like this” “Can I do something else?” – but it doesn’t mean they give up. They are willing to learn more, asking questions, and do more practice to overcome the challenges. It doesn’t mean they don’t have fun though – Mathnasium Method itself is fun, not to mention our great environment with engaging instructors, games, and prizes. One of our Students of the Month’s parent said in her review that Mathnasium has a solid program and a safe place for learning.

Sprint vs Marathon

According to Angela Duckworth, gritty people know that life is not a sprint but a marathon. Like in weight lifting, if you can’t easily press 100 lbs, you will not be able to press 200 lbs. You cannot be successful in algebra if you don’t know multiplication and division, and you cannot perform in multiplication/division if you don’t master addition and subtraction. To this, I humbly ask parents, please do something as soon as you see your child struggles with math. Don’t wait, because by the time they’re in high school the problems could become too big to handle, and the “runway length” to take-off is becoming too short, even if they’re forced to sprint.

Related Articles:

• Student of the Month: The power of grit!
• Student of the Month: What makes them successful?
• What are the two things successful students have in common?
• September Student of the Month