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Here's a thought provoking article ...Around 1970, psychologist Walter Mischel launched a classic experiment. He left a succession of 4-year-olds in a room with a bell and a marshmallow. If they rang the bell, he would come back and they could eat the marshmallow. If, however, they didn't ring the bell and waited for him to come back on his own, they could then have two marshmallows.In videos of the experiment, you can see the children squirming, kicking, hiding their eyes -- desperately trying to exercise self-control so they can wait and get two marshmallows. Their performance varied widely. Some broke down and rang the bell within a minute. Others lasted 15 minutes.The children who waited longer went on to get higher SAT scores. They got into better colleges and had, on average, better adult outcomes. The children who rang the bell quickest were more likely to become bullies. They received worse teacher and parental evaluations 10 years later and were more likely to have drug problems at age 32.The Mischel experiments are worth noting because people in the policy world spend a lot of time thinking about how to improve education, how to reduce poverty, how to make the most of the nation's human capital. But when policymakers address these problems, they come up with structural remedies: reduce class sizes, create more charter schools, increase teacher pay, mandate universal day care and try vouchers.The results of these structural reforms are almost always disappointingly modest. Yet policymakers rarely ever probe deeper into problems and ask the core questions, such as how do we get people to master the sort of self-control that leads to success? To ask that question is to leave the policymakers' comfort zone -- which is the world of inputs and outputs, appropriations and bureaucratic reform -- and to enter the murky world of psychology and human nature.Yet the Mischel experiments, along with everyday experience, tell us that self-control is essential. Young people who can delay gratification can sit through sometimes boring classes to get a degree. They can perform rote tasks in order to, say, master a language. They can avoid drugs and alcohol. For people without self-control skills, however, school is a series of failed ordeals. No wonder they drop out. Life is a parade of foolish decisions: teenage pregnancy, drug use, gambling, truancy and crime.If you're a policymaker and you are not talking about core psychological traits such as delayed gratification skills, then you're just dancing around with proxy issues. The research we do have on delayed gratification tells us that differences in self-control skills are deeply rooted but also malleable. Differences in the ability to focus attention and exercise control emerge very early, perhaps as soon as nine months. But there is no consensus on how much of the ability to exercise self-control is hereditary and how much is environmental.The ability to delay gratification, like most skills, correlates with socioeconomic status and parenting styles. Children from poorer homes do much worse on delayed gratification tests than children from middle-class homes. That's probably because children from poorer homes are more likely to have their lives disrupted by marital breakdown, violence, moving, etc. They think in the short term because there is no predictable long term.The good news is that while differences in the ability to delay gratification emerge early and persist, that ability can be improved with conscious effort. Moral lectures don't work. Sheer willpower doesn't seem to work either. The children who resisted eating the marshmallow didn't stare directly at it and exercise iron discipline. On the contrary, they were able to resist their appetites because they were able to think about other things.What works, says Jonathan Haidt, the author of "The Happiness Hypothesis," is creating stable, predictable environments for children, in which good behavior pays off -- and practice. Young people who are given a series of tests that demand self-control get better at it.This pattern would be too obvious to mention if it weren't so largely ignored by educators and policymakers. Somehow we've entered a world in which we obsess over structural reforms and standardized tests, but skirt around the moral and psychological traits that are at the heart of actual success. Mischel tried to interest New York schools in programs based on his research. Needless to say, he found almost no takers.I wonder whether he would find any receptive ears amongst our Department of Basic Education's strategists. Or for that matter within the Department of Social Development.
From Canoeing South Africa Newsletter
Front bunch including Ant Stott and Ruby
Pics copied from Jenna Ward's Facebook album.
The successful South African Marathon Kayaking team returned to a hero’s welcome yesterday, proudly showing off two new World Champions. Gauteng brothers Grant and Brandon van der Walt both won the World title in their respective K1 age groups – a first in world marathon paddling history.
Senior K2 silver medallist Shaun Rubenstein was also celebrated for his outstanding result with partner Ant Stott, who is in England for a week.
The past weekend’s ICF Marathon World Championships in Portugal were widely recognised as the toughest yet raced, with the highest turnout of returning champions ever.
Younger brother Brandon van der Walt got the regatta off to the ideal start for South Africa on Friday morning, when he raced a tactically astute race belying his 17 years to win the gold medal in the opening Junior U18 Men’s event. “It was a huge honour to win the Junior title because my older brother [Grant] had won it before. It was also something for my parents. They have sacrificed so much to help my paddling so it was a good way to say thank you and repay them,” said Brandon.
He crossed the line to rapturous shouting and screaming from the large SA team, who had lined the bank flying flags and blowing vuvuzela’s.
Brandon also predicted his brother’s win later in that afternoon. Grant’s K1 victory in the U23 race backed up the Junior title he won two years ago in Hungary.
Grant vd Walt
This was the first year the International Canoe Federation included the U23 as a stand-alone marathon class, and the event was raced at a very high standard. The powerhouse 19-year-old had to deal with a delayed start to his event, and then recover from a capsize at the end of the first portage. Such was his strength of character, that he quickly put these behind him to control the rest of the race and leave all challengers in his wake on the finish line.
The Senior Men’s K2 event that took place on Sunday afternoon was one of the highlights of the weekend. It featured a host of previous winners and set off at an incredibly fast pace.
“The first 1.5km to the turn was one of the hardest of my life. Every boat was just so fast and the attacks and surges of maximum speed were non-stop all the way to the first turn,” said defending K2 World Champion Ant Stott afterwards. “Our heart rates were through the roof, and we did our best to try and relax slightly before the first portage. It was World Champs though, so you can’t expect to come into the race and not have to go through scary amounts of physical pain,” he added.
Ant Stott and Shaun Rubinstein
The first portage split the field up, with the South Africans finding themselves in a four boat breakaway up front. “All three crews behind us were known for their strong grinding ability, so we had to work hard to make sure that we were not caught. In our group the Czech boat had a very strong pull and they weren’t scared to use it, which helped keep us clear from the rest of the field,” explained previous K1 World Champion Shaun Rubenstein.
The bunch stayed together until the last portage, where the South Africans put in slightly after the Spanish boat. Feeling good, and with 250m to the finish line, Rubenstein and Stott decided to make their move. They pulled up alongside and then overtook them, but the Spaniards came back and edged in front to win by a boatlength on the line.
“Even though it was disappointing not to win gold, the Spanish were the stronger crew on the day and deserved to win,” said a humble Rubenstein after the race.
The sprint ace had raced a titanic K1 race the day before, which was described as one of the most exciting races Marathon has ever seen.
After a bad start, Rubenstein staged an amazing fight back to claw his way onto the front bunch by the fourth lap of seven, but there was not enough in the tank for the tough end sprint and he missed out on a medal by two seconds.
Stott and Rubenstein’s silver means both athletes have now won four Senior World Marathon medals, including gold and bronze – a unique achievement in South African paddling.
Len Jenkins
Hank McGregor and Grant vd Walt
Bridgitte Hartley - I hope to get race details for her race before too long.
Conor knows that Shirley-Anne loves columns so Shirley-Anne this is for you ...
... and close up ...
To do is to be Rene DescartesTo be is to do Jean Paul SartreDoobee doobee doo Frank Sinatra
