My experience is that aggression is a universal trait in human beings – girls feel it in any sort of environment, same-sex or co-ed. Rachel Simmons Read Quote
I come from a family where happiness was seen as an ‘extra,’ a kind of frill to life – nice to have, but certainly not necessary and by no means paramount. Work was king. Suffering meant you were working hard. It made you worthy. Rachel Simmons Read Quote
Happiness doesn’t just happen. It must be pursued. And if the pursuit of the ‘ultimate currency’ of happiness helps us choose occupations that confer present and future benefit, and these choices, in turn, motivate us to succeed, this strikes me as perhaps the most powerful non-cognitive skill of all. Rachel Simmons Read Quote
Girls who use jokes to be nasty are often hiding other feelings they are struggling to express. Rachel Simmons Read Quote
Teasing is often healthy and fun, not to mention an important part of interpersonal and individual development. But when it’s abused, ‘just kidding’ contains a disturbing logic: If I didn’t mean it, it didn’t happen. Rachel Simmons Read Quote
You might be thinking that some people are just naturally good at speaking up, and others just aren’t – game over. Not true. Speaking up is a skill that you have to learn like any other, whether it’s speaking Spanish or doing calculus or changing a tire. Rachel Simmons Read Quote
Raising your hand when you’re not sure you have the right answer helps you take risks with your ideas and put yourself out there. Rachel Simmons Read Quote
Classroom discussion is where you learn how to debate an idea and stick with an opinion, even when others don’t agree – and not take it personally, either. Rachel Simmons Read Quote
As girls grow up and download what it means to be a culturally acceptable ‘good girl,’ they learn to please others at the expense of themselves. They worry about protecting relationships – and what people think of them – at all costs. Rachel Simmons Read Quote
