3/2/11 - Persistence

This quote was in the book Coaching For Life:

Nothing in the world can take the place of Persistence. Talent will not; nothing is more common than unsuccessful men with talent. Genius will not; unrewarded genius is almost a proverb. Education will not; the world is full of educated derelicts. Persistence and determination alone are omnipotent. The slogan 'Press On' has solved and always will solve the problems of the human race.

Calvin Coolidge
30th president of US (1872 - 1933)

I thought about this as I was having conferences with parents in the past couple of weeks. I must agree with President Coolidge. As I have seen all kinds of students go through my classrooms, persistence and determination were the best indicators of success. However, it is not something that is easily tested in ITBS or the chapter test!

As an aside, history has not been particularly kind to President Coolidge:

http://www.usnews.com/news/articles/2010/07/02/survey-ranks-obama-15th-best-president-bush-among-worst

These rankings are of course, very subjective!

For a guy with the nickname "Silent Cal", he has his share of good quotes:

http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/authors/c/calvin_coolidge.html