The Value of Hard Work

How do we teach that quality to kids who grow up without it?

I am a teacher. I try to impassion my students to read and write well. I urge them to read out loud, to listen to the sound of language -- both their own and that of others.

I give my students chances to revise, improve their grades and understand the writing process. Together we read and listen to great works of literature, both historical and contemporary. This is hard work.

Most of my students chose not to do this work because they don't know how to work hard; they do not take the chances I give them.

Many of my students don't know how to work hard because they haven't been taught what Sidney Poitier writes in "The Measure of a Man: A Spiritual Autobiography": "Freud once said that life is love and work. But if you do bad work, it can't provide the meaning in your life that you need from it."

Many of my students don't know what they're missing.

Growing up in a family where everyone worked to contribute to the family's well-being, Poitier was not given a no-participation option. His parents worked long and hard to put a roof over their children's heads and food in their bellies. Poitier's parents taught him that he would have to work hard and keep his integrity while doing so.

"Children learn responsibility and discipline through meaningful work," he explains. "The values developed within a family that operate on these principles then extend to the society at large."

How, then, do children develop a work ethic if they do not grow up in families that teach them how to be hard-working?

"My work is me, and I try ... to take very good care of me because I'm taking care of more than just the one that one sees," Poitier writes. "I'm taking care of the me that represents a hell of a lot more than me."

My father was an educator, and he worked in the United States, Africa and Europe. When he retired, he didn't join a country club. He built a vineyard.

Although I often wished to have a chat with him somewhere other than on a tractor, I respected his life's work and his quest to continually learn -- whether it was hard or not.

My own life was enriched because of the lessons my father taught me. I know that my work represents not only me but him.

I am trying to pass these lessons onto my students, but I'm not sure if they understand the meaning of work.

My question, then, to my father, Poitier, and all of us, is: How can we get America's youth to understand the importance of hard work and integrity if they have not grown up with it?