Number of words: 1,897<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The little engine that could , the saggy baggy elephant, and the scruffy tugboat \u2013 they were cute, they were often overmatchedand we were happy for them when they succeeded. In fact to this day I remembar how found I was of those little creatures but no way did I identify with them. The message was: If you are unfortunate enough to be the runt of the litter \u2013 if you lack endowment – you don\u2019t have to be utter failure. You can be a sweet, adorable little slogger, and may be even a success. Thank you very much, I\u2019ll take the endowment. The problem was that these stories made it into an either \u2013 or. Either you have ability or you expend effort. And this is part of the fixed mindset. Effort is for those who don\u2019t have the ability. People with the fixed mindset tell us, \u201cif you have to work at something, you must not be good.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
No, we just wanted to be a less foolish hare. We wanted to be swift as the wind and a bit more strategic \u2013 say, not taking quite so many snoozes before the finish line. After all, everyone knows you have to show up in order to win.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The story of the tortoise and the hare, in trying to put forward the power of effort, gave effort a bad name.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
One seventh-grade girl summed it up. I think intelligence is something you have to work for… it isn\u2019t just given to you… Most kids if they are not sure of an answer, will not raise their hand to answer the question. But what I usually do is raise my hand, because if I\u2019m wrong, then my mistake will be corrected. Or I will raise my hand and say, \u201chow would this be solved?\u201d or I don\u2019t get this. Can you help me? Just by doing that I\u2019m increasing my intelligence.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Benjamin Border, an eminent political theorist, once said, \u201cI don\u2019t divide the world into the weak and the strong, or the successes and the failures…. I divide the world into the learners and nonleaners.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
We praised other students for their efforts. \u201cWow you got eight right. That\u2019s a really good score. You must have worked really hard.\u201d They were not made to feel that had some special gift; they were praised for doing what it takes so succeed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Both groups were exactly equal to begin with. But right after the praise, they began to differ. As we feared, the ability praise pushed students right into the fixed mindset, and they showed all the signs of it, too: when we gave them a choice, they rejected a challenging new task that they could learn from. They didn\u2019t want to do anything that could expose their flaws and call into question their talent.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
When Guettel was thirteen, he was all set to star in a Metropolitan Opera broadcast and TV movie Amabl and the night Visitors. He bowed out, saying that his voice had broken. \u201cI kind of faked that my voice was changing …. I didn\u2019t want to handle the pressure.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In contrast, when students were praised for effort, 90 percent of them wanted the challenging new task that they could learn from.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
We first gave each student a set of ten fairly difficult problems from a nonverbal IQ test. They mostly did pretty well on these, and when they finished we praised them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
We praised some of the students for their ability. They were told: \u201cwow, you got eight right. That\u2019s a really good score. You must be smart at this.\u201d They were in the Adam Guettel you\u2019re-so-talented position.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Adam guettel has been called the crown prince and savior of musical theatre. He is the gradson of Richard Rodgers, the man who wrote the music to such classic as Oklabomal and Carousel. Guettel\u2019s mother gushes about her son\u2019s genius. So everyone else. \u201cThe talent is there and it\u2019s major,\u201d raved a review in The New York Times. The question is whether this kind of praise encourages people.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
What\u2019s great about research is that you can ask these kinds of questions and then go get the answers. So we conducted studies with hundreds of students, mostly early adolescents. We firts gave each student a set of ten fairly difficult problems from a nonverbal IQ test. They mostly did pretty well on these, and when they finished we paised them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
We praised some of the students for their ability. They were told: \u201cWow, you got eight right. That\u2019s a really good score. You must be smart at this.\u201d They were in the Adam Guettel you\u2019re-so-talented position.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Some people simply pick up these skills in the natural course of their lives, whereas others have to work to learn them and put them together. But as we can see from the \u201cafter\u201d self-portraits, everyone can do it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I won\u2019t dwell on the intensity of my discomfort or the poor quality of my artwork, although both were painfully clear. I tell this story as a prelude to the astonishment and the joy I felt when is read Drawing on the right side of the brain. On the opposite page are the before-and-after self portrairs of people who took a short course in drawing from the auther, Betty Edwards. That is, they are the self-potriars is drawn by the students when they entered her course and five days later when they had complete it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Aren\u2019t they amazing? At the beginning, these people didn\u2019t look as though thye had much artist ability. Most of their pictures reminded me of my owl. But only a few days later, everybody could really drawl! And Edwards swears that this is a typical group. It seems impossible.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Edwards agrees that most people view drawing as a magical ability that only a select few possess, and that only a select few will ever possess. But this is because people don\u2019t understand the components \u2013 the learnable components \u2013 of drawing. Actually she informs us, they are not drawing skills at all, but seeing skills. They are the ability to perceive edges, spaces, relationship, lights and shadows, and the whole drawing requires us to learn each component skill and then combine them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Until you finally got it. You thought of a lot of different ways to do it found the one that worked.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cI like that you took on that challenging project for your scince class. It will take a lot of work \u2013 doing the research, designing the apparato buying the parts, and building it. Boy, you are going to learn a lot of green things.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cI know school used to be easy for you and you used to feel like it smart kid all the time. But the truth is that you weren\u2019t using your brain to the fullest. I\u2019m really excited about how you\u2019re strechting yourself now and working to learn hard things.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThat homework was so long and involved. I really admire the was you concentrated and finished it.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThat pictures has so many beautiful colors. Tell me about them.\u201d You put so much thought into this essay. It really makes me understand Shakespear in a new way.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThe passion you put into that piano piece gives me a real feeling or joy. How do you feel when you play it?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
What about a student who worked hard and didn\u2019t do well?<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cI liked the effort you put in, but lets work together some more and figure out what it is you don\u2019t understand.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cWe all have different learning curves. It may take more time for you to catch on to this and be comfortable with this material, but if you keep at it like this you well.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cEveryone learns in a different way. Let\u2019s keep trying to find the way that works for you.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Does this mean we can\u2019t praise our children enthusiastically when they do something great? Should we try to restrain our admiration for their successes? Not at all. Just means that we should keep away from a certain kind of praise \u2013 praise that judges their intelligence or talent. Or praise that implies that we\u2019re proud of them for their intelligence or talent rather than for the work they put in.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
We can appreciate them as much as we want for the growth-oriental process \u2013 what they accomplished through practice, study, persistence, recognise and shows interest in their efforts and choices.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cYou really studied for your test and your improvement shows it. You read the material over several times, you outlined it, and you tested your self on it. It really worked!\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Bullying is about judging. It\u2019s about establishing who is more worthy or important. The more powerful kids judge the less powerful kids. They judge them to be less valuable human beings, and they rub their faces in it on a daily basis. And it\u2019s clear what the bullies get out of it. Like the boys in Sheri Levy\u2019s study, they get a boost in self-esteem. It\u2019s not that bullies are low in self-esteem rush. Bullies also gain social status from their actions. Others may look up to them and judge them to be cool, powerful, or funny. Or may fear them. Either way, they\u2019ve upped their stunding.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Their is afrench expression: \u201cTout comprendre c\u2019est tout pardoman. To understand all is to forgive all. Of course, this can be carried too for.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Alfred P. Sloan, the former CEO of genral motors , presents a nice contrats. He was leading a group of high-level policy makers who seemed to have reached a co consensus. \u201cGentalmen,\u201d he said, \u201cI take it we are all in complete agreement on the decision here……Then I propose we postpone further discussion of this matter until our next meeting to give ourselves time to develop disagreement and perhaps gain some understanding of what the decision is all about.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Herodotus, writing in the fifth century B.C., reported that the ancient Persians used a version of Sloan\u2019s techniques to prevent groupthink. Whenever a group reached a decision while sober, they later reconsidered it while intoxicated.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
How you react to praise a correction. Those more responsive to the correction are deemed worthy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Not long ago I was interested to read about Marina Semyonova, a great Russian dancer and teacher, who devised a novel way of selecting her students. It was a clever test for mindset. As a former student tells it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Seymour Sarason was a professor of mine when I was in graduate school. He was wonderful educator, and he always told us to question assumptions. \u201cthere\u2019s an assumption,\u201d he said, \u201cthat schools are for students\u2019 learning. Well, why aren\u2019t they just as much for teacher\u2019s learning?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
One more thing about praise. When we say to children, \u201cWow, you did that so quickly!\u201d or Look, you didn\u2019t make any mistakes!\u201d what messege are we sending? We are telling them that what we prize are speed and perfection. Speed and perfection are the enemy of difficult learning: \u201cif you think I am smart when I\u2019m fast and perfect, I\u2019d better not take on anuthing challenging.\u201d So what should we say when children complete a task \u2013 say, math problems \u2013 quickly and perfectly? Should we deny them the praise they have earned? Yes, when this happens, I say, \u201cWhoops. I guess that was too easy. I apologize for wasting your time. Let\u2019s do something you can really learn from!\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Excerpted from <\/em>https:\/\/medium.com\/conversations-with-tyler\/tyler-cowen-daron-acemoglu-history-economics-db440127ba6a<\/em><\/a><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"