看到一位在美国生活的中国妈妈分享，她19年生娃，到了娃上学的年纪，在考察了加州21个幼儿园和中小学后，得出了一个惊人的结论：

美国的“快乐教育”是一个巨大的陷阱。

她考察的其中一个幼儿园，下午两点就放学了，不教什么东西，就是玩儿。

周末老师是否布置作业取决于孩子们是否想写。

答案当然是“不想”。

这样完全没有压力的学校好吗？

直到考察了更多学校以后，她发现美国的阶级划分就是从学校开始的。

所谓的“快乐教育”是大多数美国穷人接受的教育，学不学无所谓，学生散漫老师佛系家长无所谓。

而学费更贵的私立学校，却有着残酷的精英教育，那里面简直“卷”到飞起；学校的目标也是产出各行业精英。

很多网友在见识到美国割裂的“有钱人的精英教育”和穷人的“快乐教育”后开始质疑：

“快乐教育”毁掉了美国的底层，难道还要来毁掉中国的孩子吗？

精英们一边鼓吹要“快乐育儿”一边在教育自己的孩子时“卷到飞起”。

要知道，美国顶级私立学校的学习强度并不比衡水中学差；“比你有钱的人却在悄悄地比你更努力”这样的网络段子也不假。

也有人指出，西方鼓吹的“快乐教育”并不是获得知识的快乐，而是让人丧失竞争的“奶头乐”。

借着这个话题，我们一起来看看本期的Buzzword Grit.

I'm sure many of you have read articles about how kids are allowed to roam free, do whatever they want in the west, and they really aren't put under that much pressure as the kids in China.

相信很多人都读过那种 “西方快乐教育”的文章, 并且十分羡慕。但今天的Buzzword里, 想和你分享一个在近些年来英语国家也逐渐开始认同的一个教育理念，叫做Grit教育 , 我看过有把它翻译成 “坚毅教育”或者 “坚韧教育”。

Have you ever wondered what makes someone a good student, a good athlete, or a good leader? Why do some people accomplish their goals while others fail. What makes the difference?

你有没有想过不管在哪个领域，不管在多大或者多小的环境里，为什么有人成功有人失败?

Usually we answer these questions by talking about the talent of top performers. We say they are very gifted, they are very talented, but we all know there's more to the story than that.

我们也都知道能成功，绝对不只靠天赋。

Now some research seem to argue that what makes a bigger impact than talent or intelligence is mental toughness.

Mental toughness or grit as they call. It plays a more important role than anything else for achieving your goals in health, business, and life in general.

于是很多最近的研究就得出这样的一个结论，就说grit或者叫mental toughness，你个人精神的坚韧、坚毅程度才是最终决定你是否能成功的要素。

So what is grit?

Grit is the perseverance and passion to achieve long term goals.

简单来说grit就是达成长远目标long term goals的这种perseverance坚持不懈and passion和热情.

Angela Duckworth, a researcher at the University of Pennsylvania did this popular Ted talk.

She suggests that grit is a strong predictor of success and ability to reach one's goals.

说到grit怎么火起来，就不得不提到 Angela Duckworth, 她是做了一个挺有名的Ted演讲，有兴趣的你也可以去看一下，专门讲grit.

她也把自己的研究成果写成了这样一本关于grit的书。

Her research on grit has shown that, for example, West Point cadets who scored highest on the Grit Test were 60% more likely to succeed than their peers.

西点军校里那些 Grit Test里面得分高的学生，在以后的生活训练学习里比其他人的成功概率要高出了60%.

Ivy League undergraduate students who had more grit also had higher GPAs than their peers .

在Ivy League就是美国这些顶级藤校的大学生里面，如果更有grit的这些人，他们的整个绩点也会明显的高于他们的同学。

When comparing two people who are the same age but have different levels of education, grit (and not intelligence) more accurately predicts which one will be better educated.

Now this is very interesting because earlier studies of achievement often emphasize the notion that high achieving people typically possess traits above and beyond that of normal ability.

在此之前，很多关于这些成功人士的研究都会聚焦在他们异于常人的这些能力水平天赋等等上面。

But people like Duckworth, they emphasize that grit is a better predictor of achievement than intellectual talent because grit provides the stamina required to stay the course amid challenges and setbacks.

但是近些年来像Duckworth做出的这样的研究，就表明其实成功路上最重要的品质就是坚韧、坚毅，因为只有这样才能在各种的挑战和挫折面前还能够继续走下去.

Stay the course.

Some of the characteristics

relating to grit

Number one is Courage.

While courage is hard to measure, it is directly proportional to your level of grit. More specifically, your ability to manage fear of failure is imperative and a predictor of success.

跟grit相关的人格特质的其中之一是courage勇气, 这个勇气主要是去manage fear of failure敢于应对失败的勇气。

Gritty people are not afraid to fail, but they rather embrace it as part of process because they understand their valuable lessons in failure, in defeat.

一个有grit的人是不害怕失败的, 因为他们可以从失败中汲取力量和经验。

This is also why that many experts are saying that we shouldn't coddle kids too much.

When we raise kids, we should allow them to fail. And this is how they become grittier.

The second trait is Long-term goals and endurance, the ability to follow through.  

In his 2007 best selling book Outliers, Malcolm Gladwell  mentioned this 10,000-hour theory.

相信大家都听过什么1万个小时的理论，这个理论就是说：

even if you are very talented, if you want to become successful in anything, you need at least 20 hours a week over 10 years which is the equivalent of 10,000 hours to excel.

提出grit的这位Angela Duckworth, 她也提出过一个差不多的时长。

But then again, one of the distinctions between someone who succeeds and someone who's just spending a lot of time doing something is practice must have purpose.

那1万个小时究竟是浪费还是最后能让你成功, 它中间的区别就是这1万个小时的练习究竟有没有一个 long term purpose, long term goal, 一个长远的规划和目的；

为了这个目的，你可以有长久持续下去的耐力，这也是grit里面非常重要的一个组成部分。

And then we come to Resilience.

Resilience这个词被翻译成 “韧性”或者 “复原力”，because on your long journey to greatness to success, you're going to fail, you're going to run into all sorts of problems and setbacks.  

What gives you the strength to get up and fight again? this is where you need resilience.

Resilience is a dynamic combination of optimism, creativity, and confidence.

其实韧性它是乐观、创造力和自信的一个有机结合。

Gritty people believe everything will be all right in the end.  If it is not all right, it is not the end.

这句话意思就是说有grit的人，他们会有足够的积极的心态认为只要你坚持，最后一切都会变好的;

而如果事情没有变好，证明还没有到山穷水尽，还没有到最后。

And the last one is the idea of Excellence vs. Perfection 卓越 vs 完美.

In general, gritty people don't seek perfection, but instead strive for excellence.

有这种grit精神的人，他往往不是完美主义者，他要的是卓越而非完美。

Because perfection is unforgiving and inflexible. It actually becomes a hindrance on your way to success.

因为事事追求完美反而会成为你成功路上的绊脚石。

Excellence is an attitude, not an endgame. It is far more forgiving, allowing and embracing failure and vulnerability on the ongoing quest for improvement.

而追求卓越而非完美，让你可以接受偶尔的失败, 可以接受中间的不确定和脆弱性，才能够让你不断的爬起来，继续往下走。

Like excellence, grit is an attitude about seeking, striving, finding, and never yielding.

其实返回去想想，为什么有那么多人喜欢贾玲的《热辣滚烫》贺岁片，她在那场比赛里并没有赢，但她展现的确实是这种的精神.

Now let's move on to the sample sentence.

Sample Sentence：

-In her bestseller, she documented how grit predicts long-term success in nearly every realm of life