Character Assessment

As a mother of 3, continually having to overcome challenges and being able to alter my mindset through introspection, I share my knowledge through my profession and experience. As I started acquiring the methods to help me excel in my passion and discover my purpose, I reflected on my age and the time I had lost in being oblivious to what I needed to achieve my potential. Competition plays a minor role when you attain the confidence and realise that life falls into place when everything you do pertains to  a deeper meaning.

“It’s hard to argue with the science behind early intervention. Those first few years matter so much in the healthy development of a child’s brain; they represent a unique opportunity to make a difference in a child’s future (How Children Succeed, Paul Tough).”

The world is full of unpredictable challenges. A child can be given a colossal number of hours in academics, but if they are not provided with the correct skills to motivate and inspire them to continue to work hard despite failure or change of circumstances, they often spiral downwards. KIPP Academy is in the South Bronx. Students were provided an immense number of hours in school. Many achieved the marks required to get into a higher level of education, but once they left the school, there were dropouts. David Levin, who invented the program to get children in deprived areas to academically achieve, realised that the students who persisted through to college were not necessarily the ones who performed well academically. “Instead, they seemed to be the ones who possessed certain other gifts: skills like optimism, and resilience and social agility (How Children Succeed, Paul Tough).” Lessons in both character and academics is vital for growth.

Children who live in the Bronx, are fully aware of the concept of challenges, but lessons in character are not required only in deprived areas. David Randolph, head teacher of Riverdale Country School (the school attended by John F. Kennedy) worked alongside David Level and Angela Duckworth, an American psychologist who studies grit and self-control, to discover how character could be tested. They started with the 7 strengths listed below.

Grit (passion and perseverance for long term goals) – Living life as a marathon not a sprint

• Growth Mindset (By: Carol Dwek) has great ideas for building grit.

Self-Control

Zest

Social Intelligence

Gratitude

Optimism

Curiosity: A stepping stone to discovering how to help children achieve their full potential.

Further Resources : How Children Succeed by Paul Tough