Have you ever yelled at your parents,“ I’m just not talented enough, I was born like this!”. When you are so frustrated that you think you just can’t do it, you are born to be not good at certain subjects. This is fixed mindset that you think intelligence is something you born with, if you’re luck enough then you are smarter than others. If not, no matter how hard you try nothing will change. There are, however, another mindset called growth mindset. After reading “Brainology,” by Carol S. Dweck, I was shocked by not knowing about fixed and growth mindsets for so long, and that I’ve lived with a fixed mindset for whole school life, especially my math, the subject that I failed on almost every exam in high school, and writing the subject that I’m never good at from elementary school till now. However, now that I know about growth mindsets, I will work hard to have it in all my classes.
In Carol S. Dweck’s article “Brainology”, she talks about two mindsets, fixed and growth. In this whole article she explains about: How can they effect how students’ motivation, learning, and school achievement? Why students have those two different mindsets? How can students develop these mindsets? Students with fixed mindset think intelligence is something you born with and “that each person has each amount and that’s that.”( Dweck 1). Challenges are threatening for them cause they think they are not capable for it, and are scared of making mistakes and setbacks, wondering if themselves are not smart enough. On the contrary, students with growth mindset “believe that intelligence is something that can be cultivated through effort and education.” (1). As a result they like challenges, failure, setbacks which are ways to make they smarter. They also think differently toward effort, growth mindset person has the idea that the harder you work, the more you can achieve and develop your ability. On the other hand, fixed mindset makes you think that if something is hard or it requires effort then it’s because they are not talented. What they care in school also differs, one cares more about what they can learn and get from school, the other only care about if they appear smart enough and want to look good in school. Their reactions to setbacks are totally different, those with growth mindsets study even harder after encountering difficulties willing to get better. However, those with fixed mindsets will start thinking if it’s because they are stupid and often choose to study less or even quit.
Why do people have two very different mindsets? Where do they come from? According to a test did by Gamins and Dweck 1999, Mueller and Dweck 1998. They gave IQ problems to two groups of children, they praised one of the groups for their intelligence, telling them they are smart. Then they praised the other group for their effort, telling them that they must have worked hard. What was so surprising for them is that the kids praised for their intelligence took easier tasks that they could make less mistakes, while the kids praised for their effort wanted the ones they could learn from. Those who were praised by effort become the growth mindset people, those praised by intelligence become the fixed mindset group. In the end, he talked about how important it is to have growth mindsets and try to praise your students or children, tell them hoe taking challenges, making mistakes, and hard work are what can make them smarter.
I have to turn back time to when I was in elementary school, I developed this fixed mindset back then. When I was little girl I hated math because I was stress out by it. There was also another reason, my parents and teachers said “Boys are supposed to be good at math and girls are supposed to be good at literature,” that’s a negative stereotype which thinks that certain groups have the ability and others don’t. Which is one of the reasons that causes fixed mindset as Dweck mentioned in ‘Brainology”, also the main reason which caused me having fixed mindset. I deeply believe in that, and thought it’s okay for me to be not really good at math. Therefore, in elementary school I just go with my ‘ ability’, I wasn’t good of course but I was at least at average. Finally high school came, I kind of panicked a little because you have to restudy 10th grade if you don’t do good enough. I worked harder than before but not too hard to stress myself out. Though when ever I got Fs I will blame the problems for being to hard, that I already tried very ‘hard’ it’s not my fault. This is my ‘ability’, that’s it, also I thought I don’t have to study math in college anymore, if I get through high school I’ll never see all the numbers again. Unfortunately, we do have to take math classes, and before the school started we have to take a test to see which classes we’re going. I was just ‘having fun’, guessed the ones I didn’t know. Because, I know I wouldn’t do good.
Another experience I am going to talk about is Chinese, it is never a hard subject for me because I actually understand that language. Though my basis is really poor , writing is always a pain in the ass. The reason is I went to international school for elementary school. They didn’t focus on Chinese but more on bilingual, which is English and Chinese. This really led me to poor writing skill, they never taught me how to write and made us think writing is unnecessary. I then transferred to a Taiwanese high school, they like all Chinese schools really focuses on your writing skills. We are told to write 500 words essays, it was so stressful for me, I was used to writing 50-150 words essays. However, it was piece of a cake for most of my classmates. I tried for the first couple of times, like trying new method that teachers taught in class, reading others writing trying to learn from them, or just fake things to write a long essay, etc. Nothing worked, I sometimes even got lower scores. Back in my elementary school and middle school I got pretty good grades and teachers were telling me that I was good at it, that I was smart. I started questioning myself, “Am I really good at writing? After I tried so hard, I still got Fs? I guess this is my limit then.” I gave up trying because why bother if my this is my limit, and I just couldn’t improve anymore. I got straight Fs on my writing for whole my high school life.
This article has totally blown my mind, I never thought my math would ever be good. “ I’m not good at math!” is some kind of cool slang that our peer like to say. Every time calculating even some simple math my mind freeze and “I suck at math” just come out so naturally. While reading the article, “That’s me! That’s so me!” was in me the whole time. Now with this whole new concept, I think I can so much better in math, writing 399 and all the other courses in college. Even though, encountering setbacks might be scary and shocking and my old fixed mindset might pops out. I will keep reminding myself that there is this growth mindset, and the only way to become better and better is having a growth mindset. I know now effort is what really matters, you might have that 1% of intelligence which others don’t. However, without that 99% of effort you can never achieve 100%.