On Grit, Resistance and Sisu

So, we're back talking about 'grit' again, in England at least.

We have some of the unhappiest children in the world in crumbling schools with state-sanctioned Draconian disciplinary approaches amid an epidemic of emotional health issues and rising child poverty but come on kids, we're going to help you pull yourselves together and grin and bear it.

In our book The Working Class, I wrote the line:

"Resilience in the face of adversity is important, but so is changing the causes of adversity."

Yes, learning how to deal with setbacks and challenges are good life lessons for all of us*.

And any extra cash put into children's mental health has to be a good thing. But that does not mean learning to accept everything life throws at us with a stoic 'that's just the way it is' or 'it's what we deserve' or the perennial English favourite 'mustn't grumble'.

In the midst of the clamour to teach young people grit, to what extent are we also teaching them to go out and change things, to make life better for themselves and their communities, to fight against the injustices that are bringing them down?

It's taken me over thirty years to realise that the point of education is quite simple really – to make things better.

In other words, resilience is great, but so is hope.

Things can get better and I can do something about it.

That's hope.

And hope is so much better than the alternative.

In Finland (where I have been based for almost a year now), they have the term 'sisu'.

It's not easily translatable but, according to ChatGPT, it's:

"a unique blend of resilience, determination, courage, and grit — especially in the face of adversity. It’s about pushing through challenges even when things seem hopeless, not because success is guaranteed, but because it’s the right thing to do... It’s mental toughness with a moral edge."

Teaching children not to have the grit to accept that life is hard but the grit to make life better – their lives and the lives of others.

That's a grit I can get behind.

Ian Gilbert