 |
| Growth Mindset Memes Blog |
I
have never heard of Carol Dweck or the growth mindset before. I first
learned about it from your assignment. I will say however that what
she said in her first video hit very close to home as I have
experienced my classmates acting like that. I went to a “special”
high school where you had to take a test to get in and everyone
thought you were smart if you were in that school. The teachers would
constantly praise us for the smallest things and constantly put down
the kids at other schools where they did not have to take a test to
get in. We were told that we were better than other kids and what we
learned was way harder than what the regular kids learned.
What Carol said about kids being more focused on the A rather than learning was very true. A great deal of my classmates would rather cheat and get an A than actually learn the material if it meant they did not get that coveted A. There was also this mindset at my school that you were the smartest if you did not study for tests. There would always be this conversation after a test where people would say they did not study at all in order to seem smart. I found this topic very interesting and it makes me wonder if my classmates and I would have performed better if we were not given as much praise as we were and instead were told to focus and enjoy hard work.
What Carol said about kids being more focused on the A rather than learning was very true. A great deal of my classmates would rather cheat and get an A than actually learn the material if it meant they did not get that coveted A. There was also this mindset at my school that you were the smartest if you did not study for tests. There would always be this conversation after a test where people would say they did not study at all in order to seem smart. I found this topic very interesting and it makes me wonder if my classmates and I would have performed better if we were not given as much praise as we were and instead were told to focus and enjoy hard work.
I'm reading this post right after reading your Introduction, Adrian, and the distinction between grades and real learning applies so much to the projects you are doing for school and the career that you plan: grades are just grades; they don't really show anything directly (and indirectly, theya re pretty iffy...) — but when you do a project and build something that actually works (something that works in space! yes!!!), then that is the real thing, and you know your knowledge and skills are growing with every project you complete!
ReplyDeleteI think that what you're describing re: your teachers is a really dangerous phenomenon that is incredibly on OU's campus. Certain prestigious organizations assume that the only truly successful students on campus are the ones that passed their application process, when honestly it is all kind of arbitrary. This creates a really negative culture that can make the upper echelons of OU an exclusive place for people that meet certain criteria that have little to do with leadership.
ReplyDelete