The debate revolves around how we raise our children is always hot and controversial. There are many theories and ideas, some are similar to one another, but among them, Carol Dreck’s idea of “Growth mind-set” – where children are praised and rewarded according to their effort, is well received. However, Alfie Kohn’s doubt in such method and believe that the one we should be changing is ourselves and our education system. Although tempted by Kohn’s idea, despite the lack of scientific evidence that support him, I am in favor of Dreck’s traditional growth mind-set as the proper teaching way for children.
Growth mind-set, as discussed in Dreck’s “The Secret to Raising Smart Kids” article (2015), is people’s perspective about themselves, about…show more content… One prime example of the success of growth mind-set education is in mathematics. As we all know, math is where logical thinking and grittiness come into most, which is different from children to children. In one of her research, Stanford professor Jo Boaler explains how students come to hate, fear and unachieved in math because of its nature and the “testing culture” in many American schools, which emphasize heavily on taking tests and answering questions. Boaler believes a student negative perception of math can be changed, through the encouraging of creativity and positive thinking. In one of her summer math camp for seventh- and eighth- grade students, by using “growth mind-set” interventions with broad, creative and visual math, Boaler’s students became interest and improved greatly. Boaler agrees that growth mind-set teaching can give students a deeper feel and connect with math, helps them achieve a higher level. Her center (youcubed) provides free mindset math lesson, which were used by thousands of schools, as well as online courses for teachers and parents to help their students. The New Mexico School for the Arts is also trying to implement growth mind-set into their teaching method. By teaching their students how to take risks, receive feedback and the right to make mistakes, the students were able to appreciate the value of hard work, improved themselves and became…show more content… In his article “The perils of “Growth Mindset” education” (2015), he argues that people have been too obsessed in the growth mind-set theory, trying to get the children to develop the growth mind-set instead of changing ourselves and our teaching programs. To Kohn, praising based on effort can create a situation where children feel “self-handicapped” or couldn’t believe in themselves when facing the problems (“If you’re complimenting me just for trying hard, I must really be a loser.” – as commented by Kohn). Kohn further explains that students can’t develop growth mind-set if things like grades, tests, and competition held them back. Their interest in what they are doing may suffer, which then lead to “self-handicapping” and can’t be helped with a growth mind-set alone. While lack of scientific proof, his idea still raises the question: “Have we been too focused on the growth mind-set as a teaching tool rather than a reference, to the point that we convince ourselves that attitude matter more than our curriculum?”. While Dweck does not claim that growth mind-set is the solution to everything, it was proven to be an effective teaching
