The first day I went to the gym, I came home.
My muscles were the same size…
My waist was just as big around…
And I was sore!
I figure I’ll give it one more try. I went the next day… still nothing. Exercising doesn’t work. So I quit.
Sounds stupid, doesn’t it? The same logic applies to our students’ academics.
They are failing math class…
They do homework two days in a row…
They don’t have a “A” yet. So they give up.
This is the fallacy of short-term measurement. And it’s not necessarily the student’s fault. Our students come by this mindset through osmosis…
After all, the very institutions where they are enrolled use the exact same logic.
School teachers all know. Last year’s new thing…
This year’s new thing…
And next year’s new thing… That is, most failing schools do not adopt any initiatives long enough to overcome the fallacy of short-term measurement.
They are what Dr. Max Thompson calls Christmas tree schools. There’s a new ornament for the tree each year.
This message is for teachers, parents, and students. Don’t give up! In their book, Three Feet from Gold, Sharon Lechter and Greg Reid offer us a business allegory about a person who gave up just before his biggest success.
The person sold his mining rights after digging for some time. In a short time, the person who bought the mine struck the richest gold vein in history just three feet from where the original miner had given up! The person who quit lost out on millions…
So when our students, sons, and daughters struggle, I like to remember the parable of the erstwhile miner.
The only way to fail is to quit. Measure long-term changes, not the short-term.
Students sometimes think they have to be perfect right out of the gate.
No… They have to be consistent. And in the long run, they will win. But delayed gratification is a tough skill for adults, much less adolescents.
People do not get fit by exercising for 3 hours on January 1 of each year. They get fit by exercising 20 minutes a day for 30, or 60, or 90 days. It depends on the starting point.
Avoid the short-term measurement fallacy. Encourage students that slow and steady wins the race. I must have read The Tortoise and the Hare to my daughters a hundred times. And every time, the tortoise won.
By the way, I did keep going to the gym. I am happy to say that I am a fit 50-year old who is glad he stayed focused on the long-term measurements of health benefits.