The Cognitive Hypothesis: What Matters Most in Developing a Skill?

In the past decade, economists have begun to produce evidence that calls into question many of the assumptions behind the cognitive hypothesis. What matters most in a child's development is not how much information we can stuff into her brain but whether we are able to help her develop non-cognitive skills. These include persistence, self-control, curiosity, conscientiousness, grit, and self-confidence. The pathways through which we acquire and lose these skills are certainly not random.