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Why Academic Tenacity Matters


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Academically tenacious students:

  3. Value effort.
  7. Believe in their ability to learn and perform.
  10. Have positive, supportive relationships with teachers and peers.

Tenacity Interventions























© 2014 Scott Barry Kaufman, All Rights Reserved.


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  1. 1. mike_midwest 12:00 am 04/15/2014

    That sounds great, but first they have to be smart enough to do the work. In ways I admire students who take calculus over and over, but really they need to find something else to do. Maybe another major, maybe a career that does not involve a four year degree. You have to be smart enough to know when to move on. I am guessing the author has never taught a college math class.

    See: Beyond College for All, Career Paths for the Forgotten Half, by James E. Rosenbaum.

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  2. 2. gs_chandy 4:32 pm 04/17/2014

    mike_midwest: Here’s a link to a Wikipedia article on Scott Barry Kaufman: Your guess that Kaufman hasn’t taught a college level math class is probably right. I, however, have had some (not a whole lot) of college level teaching experience, and can warrant that most of Dr Kaufman’s ideas are pretty sound.

    The only things that (IMHO) that Dr Kaufman might have emphasised more is that ‘mind is a complex system’ and that our conventional means to handle issues in complex systems do not work very well.


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  3. 3. gs_chandy 4:42 pm 04/17/2014

    Further my last, I do have a fair background in math (though I’ve been focusing on systems now for many years) – and I am entirely certain that the ‘teaching’ of math (in schools and colleges) does need to be significantly improved.

    This could happen if math teachers, mathematicians and ‘general educators’ were to get together effectively and develop an effective Action Plan to ensure that the ‘learning + teaching’ dyad is effectively handled in our educational systems.

    In regard to math education, we really need to ask ourselves the question why most students leave school fearing and/or loathing math. The education system should certainly leave them with the idea that math is fascinating, very useful indeed – AND that most school and college-level math is not at all beyond the grasp of any reasonably intelligent individual. In general, except for a few exceptional math teachers, this is not what happens at all.


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  4. 4. 14099218 10:46 am 04/21/2014

    If creating short and long term goals have such a great effect on children and their academic tenacity, shouldn’t the concept of creating goals be integrated into schools’ curriculum? If students are taught to set goals for themselves and have the opportunity do this within a supporting system, with teachers and peers close by for assistance, will this not create new generations of academic tenacious students who will know where they belong and where they want to be. If goal setting and stress management could be presented and taught as a subject at school, it will have such a wide spread influence on the upcoming generations and in the end the country as a whole.

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  5. 5. Nicole123 10:04 am 05/1/2014

    As a first year student I find it hard to always stay positive but i can definitely say that the factors named above does have a huge impact on not only my mind set but also my academic performance. The more positive and mind challenging my lectures(even maths) are the more I want to know and study. As I am only beginning to feel socially accepted I don’t know what the outcome of that might be.
    I moved from my home town closer to college and that, I feel personally, had a huge impact on my marks as I was in a new city on my own and I am only beginning to feel at home after 5 months here.

    Your article really gave me some insight, thank you.

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