The start of the spring semester in high schools and colleges is a good time to ask, “What does it take for a young person to succeed in life?”
Many people say it’s a college education, which most people think of as a four-year degree. Others say it takes a knowledge of a trade, which can be gained in several ways, including at a two-year college.
The answer is complicated and depends in part on what happens later in life and how much success is achieved.
Related questions are “How do you define success?” and “How do you measure success, in school and in life?”
Some people say a student’s success is measured by the grades he or she gets in school. Some people say it’s by their score on a standardized test.
David Brooks, a longtime journalist, thinker and author, believes a different definition of success is needed, along with a different approach to identify qualities needed for success. He explained his perspective in a recent article in Atlantic magazine titled, “How the Ivy League Broke America.”
Brooks believes the answer is not grades or scores on standardized tests. Instead, he identifies four qualities that he believes are needed to succeed — curiosity, a sense of drive and mission, social intelligence and agility.
His wording is self-explanatory, except for the term “social intelligence.” A better term might be “the ability to work within a team.”
I agree with Brooks. I’ve been involved in education for more than a half-century. I’ve taught many college students, and I’ve been in several educational leadership positions. Like Brooks, I’ve observed many different types of students and supervised many different types of workers.
Like Brooks, I tend to evaluate people and their success not on the grades they received in school or the scores they got in standardized tests, but on the qualities they demonstrate. Along with curiosity, a sense of drive and mission, the ability to be a team player, and agility, I would add follow-through.
To begin with, I dislike standardized tests. Tests like the SAT are a poor reflection of a person’s true knowledge or skills. I especially de-test (pardon the pun) standardized tests given to students in grade and high schools.
To be more specific, I detest the EMPHASIS given to these standardized tests. The worst cases are standardized tests given to students in grade school when they are used as the main, or only, measure of the success of students and the success of a school. As a corollary, I detest the fact that many teachers are asked, or worse required, to “teach to the test.”
Likewise, the emphasis on using a standardized test like the SAT for college admission is misguided or even pernicious. The original meaning of SAT was the Scholastic APTITUDE Test, not Scholastic Achievement Test. It was originally designed not to measure what a student knows but their potential to be a successful college student.
What’s actually being measured, however, is the ability to do well on a standardized test. Many parents who want their children to attend high-powered universities will spend big bucks to have them get trained in taking standardized tests, especially the SAT. As Brooks points out, that rigs the system against students who know a lot but who don’t do well, or haven’t been trained to do well, on standardized tests.
Grades are another topic for debate. As a college instructor who has given out thousands of grades, I realize their limitations, especially if they are determined by tests which can be scored on a scantron (which I avoided like the plague).
A grade can be ONE indicator of how much knowledge a student has absorbed in a class or on a test. Sometimes, unfortunately, it’s an absorption that lasts only for a few days, and soon after a test is over, that knowledge has evaporated.
Instead of grades or test scores, what seems to make people successful in their careers (as well as in life) are the five qualities I’ve mentioned. This perspective is affirmed, as Brooks writes, by researchers. Let me elaborate on each quality.
CURIOSITY – Show me a student with curiosity, and I’ll show you a student who will go far in school – and in life. I’ve always appreciated this trait, and I’ve encouraged it in my children and grandchildren.
Students at all levels of school, from kindergarten to graduate school, need the encouragement to be curious — to figure out how things work and to explore many subjects and many options.
A SENSE OF DRIVE AND MISSION – This could also be called initiative and often translates into a strong work ethic. If a person at any age discovers something that excites them and propels them to make something happen, they will work hard at it and usually succeed.
A SENSE OF TEAMWORK – As Brooks points out, today’s world encourages people to be competitive individuals, often isolated, who think of themselves first and others later, if at all. But in real life, most careers require people to get along with others and to work in collaboration as a team.
AGILITY – The ability to shift directions that generates success in sports also generates success in life. In life, it’s the ability to shift perspectives by having an open mind. Many people lack success in their careers because they remain stuck in one perspective, even though reality is telling them to change.
FOLLOW-THROUGH – Lately, I’ve noticed more and more that follow-through sets successful people apart from others. For people in retail sales, for example, this means keeping in contact with the customer and responding to their questions or concerns in a timely way.
Lately, people don’t seem to care to or want to respond. When I find someone who follows through, I treasure that person and will remain loyal to them.
One of the challenges for all five of these qualities is how to measure them. That will require more reflection. But I do know they are significantly important.
I want to thank David Brooks for prodding me to think about the qualities of success, and I hope I’ve prodded you, dear reader, to do likewise.
John Spevak’s email is john.spevak@gmail.com.
