He looked at his most successful students, including those in an honors math class.  What he found was that irrespective of whether they had a TV in their bedroom or not, (although most did not), these kids had parents who said “no”, put limits on their kids media use, enforced homework time and a regular bedtime, and had high expectations.  Unsuccessful kids, also irrespective of bedroom TVs, tended to spend little or no time on homework, frequently stayed up past midnight, excessively played video games, and heard “no” from parents much less frequently, if at all.  He found that many of these kids could succeed, but lacked motivation and the self-discipline needed for school success.

Now researchers could immediately poke a thousand holes in this little study, but that’s not the point.  This teacher resonated with the Say Yes to No message because of what he sees in his classroom every day:  the media culture values of More, Fast, Easy and Fun have, for many kids, overtaken the character traits of self-discipline and the ability to say “no.”   This teacher is worried not only about individual kids’ futures, but our country’s future also.

Do you have a story of how self-discipline would help your kids do better in school?

Dr. Dave