Chapter Five: Having a Growth Mindset
Today we were tasked with learning about Carol Dweck’s theory of “Growth Mindset”. To my surprise, I had never heard of this mindset, or of Carol Dweck before. Learning about her theory definitely made me want to learn more, mostly because I grew up as one of those kids fixated on getting A after A. I guess that puts me in the fixed-mindset category. Anyway, it was incredibly stressful trying to maintain grades. My parents started checking report cards in the third grade when we actually got letter grades. They rewarded me every time I got straight A’s. So when I got older, I strived for that same “perfection”. It got to the point where I feared of disappointing my parents with my grades so much, that I didn’t care how I got the good grade, only that I got it. This was incredibly detrimental not only to my academic abilities, but to my own mental health. I’d beat myself up for failing a quiz or exam. I’d study even harder to memorize, not understand. When I got to college, I realized it was an entirely different game. If I’m being honest, it has taken me a really long time to unlearn the mindset I had before, or still have. I’m ashamed that I’m still struggling, even in my senior year, but I’m growing. I am so excited that we’re getting to learn about growth mindset because I think this is something that can help me be a better student and person. I am hoping that with this new mindset, I can actually handle failure positively and use it as motivation to do better.
Hi Kassy, I relate to you in the way that you have reacted to failure in the past. As we learned from Carol Dweck, challenges help us grow. Traditional grading is not a bad way to display one's knowledge, especially for those who excel off of this type of recognition. In fact, I do think the "Not Yet" grading approach would benefit the majority of the expelled and "average" students. Using this grading technique allows students to understand that failing a task is OK and that it can help them in the future when faced with issues or errors in the real world. I think it is crucial for our generation to understand that failure doesn't mean you will never succeed, instead, it will make you stronger and more relatable.
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