There is a scene from the HBO show The Wire that took ninety seconds showing how to help students persevere. In the scene, students in math class are rolling dice and “gambling” with Monopoly money. A student, Randy, makes a bet loses. The teacher comes by and asks why Randy made such a bad bet. Randy’s classmate answers, “Yo, he just come today so he missed the whole thing about the odds” (S4E07 Prez Breakthrough). That one line showed two important aspects of building perseverance, relevance and capacity versus ability.
If people are able to see how knowledge will affect their lives, they will be more willing to stick at learning. “Why do we need to know this?” is a scary question for a teacher. A good answer earns student attention. A bad answer earns nothing but apathy. By making enough concepts relevant and letting students succeed, the teacher is demonstrating students have the capacity to learn. Perseverance requires that students feel they have capacity to develop abilities. “Capacities are what we are born with; abilities are what they become when we discover and refine them” (Robinson & Aronica, 2018 p. 64). By beating Randy at dice, Randy’s classmate demonstrated that he was able to persevere through a math lesson on probabilities. But more importantly, by replying that he won only because Randy had missed the previous lesson, he unknowingly said that Randy also has capacity that can be refined into ability. Two episodes later Randy is shown using this new ability to win real money from a group of men and when asked “Where you learn your game?” Randy proudly replies “Edward Tilghman Middle” (S4E09 Randy Dice Game). Scholastic achievement can lead to off-campus confidence and self-worth.
The Wire Ph.D. (2013, February 7). S4E07 Prez breakthrough [Video]. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=elTCEVAAEfo
The Wire Ph.D. (2013, February 7). S4E09 Randy dice game [Video]. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7_Ixj0itrbY
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