Determination is key to success

http://www.edudemic.com/2013/06/what-makes-a-top-student/

The author Stefanie Weisman states in her article that determination, not intelligence, is the key success for students.  She states that IQ has very little to do with academic success.  She is was a top student herself and says "it never came easy."  She interviewed many top students for her book and stated that "hard work, the desire to learn, and pressure from self, in that order, were rated as far more important than IQ."  These students do homework when others are partying and socializing.  She goes on to say that the majority of these students stated that they did not have a lot of pressure from their parents to get good grades.  They usually put the pressure on themselves. 

This article was a bit of a no-brainer for me.  I did not see any groundbreaking information.  Of course it is not solely intelligence that makes a successful student.  Of course it is hard work and determination that counts.  The hard part is getting young people to understand that socializing is not as important as they feel it is and eventually the hard work does pay off.  The problem is that there are many young people just simply do not care about good grades.  As long as they pass the class they are not concerned with GPA.  Furthermore, I disagree that parents pushing their children to succeed is not a huge piece of this puzzle.  I think the parents and their home environment plays a huge role in the success of these students.  I would almost guarantee that the vast majority of top students interviewed have parents who value education and foster that in their home.  These are the parents that read to their children when they are very young and helps their children with their homework every night.  The parents that are not involved and show no sign of interest in their child's education cannot expect their student to be at the top of their class.  It starts at home.