Carol Dweck, Professor at Stanford University, suggests the importance of a “growth mindset” to her readers and listeners, but most importantly to teaching techniques. One way she suggests developing the “growth mindset” is by, “praising the process that kids engage in, their effort, their strategies, their focus, their perseverance, their improvement” (Dweck). I agree with Dweck on this aspect due to that the students will focus less on competing with others and more on focusing on doing their work well.
Dweck performed at study observing students and how they perform with either having a “growth mindset” or “fixed mindset.” It appears that Dweck has the viewpoint that students that don’t have a “growth mindset” don’t perform well based on, “students who were not taught this growth mindset continued to show declining grades over this difficult school transition” (Dweck). I disagree on this viewpoint because every student comes from a different environment and background and therefore will improve or decline differently.
Students and everyone in society face a challenging new world where it’s difficult not to offend people. Colleges are starting to believe that there’s, an extraordinary fragility of the collegiate psyche, and therefore elevates the goal of protecting students from psychological harm” (Lukianoff/Haidt). I agree with this aspect because many colleges have a fear of having to deal with offensive topics and getting in trouble for them. By protecting students from psychological harm they don’t prepare them for the outside world where they will be challenged in some way with offensive topics. What I’d like to add to this, too, is that it prohibits students from being about to challenge themselves and push their own boundaries.
Today’s world is scary due to the fear of offending people. This, “is creating a culture in which everyone must think twice before speaking up, lest they face charges of insensitivity, aggression, or worse” (Lukianoff/Haidt). I agree because no one wants to be put in an uncomfortable situation where they offend someone else and get in trouble.
Dweck, Carol. “The Power of Believing That You Can Improve.” TED, www.ted.com/talks/carol_dweck_the_power_of_believing_that_you_can_improve.
Haidt, Greg Lukianoff and Jonathan. “How Trigger Warnings Are Hurting Mental Health on Campus.” The Atlantic, Atlantic Media Company, 31 July 2017, www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2015/09/the-coddling-of-the-american-mind/399356/.
