There are two news articles I read this morning that I feel like commenting on.
First, from slashdot:
“Scientific American has an interesting article on the secret to raising smart kids that says that more than 30 years of scientific investigation suggests that an overemphasis on intellect or talent leaves people vulnerable to failure, fearful of challenges and unwilling to remedy their shortcomings. In particular, attributing poor performance to a lack of ability depresses motivation more than does the belief that lack of effort is to blame.
One theory of what separates the two general classes of learners, helpless versus mastery-oriented, is that these different types of students not only explain their failures differently, but they also hold different “theories” of intelligence. The helpless ones believe that intelligence is a fixed trait: you have only a certain amount. Mistakes crack their self-confidence because they attribute errors to a lack of ability, which they feel powerless to change. Mastery-oriented children think intelligence is malleable and can be developed through education and hard work. Challenges are energizing rather than intimidating offering opportunities to learn.”
I firmly believe this to be true, and not just for ordinary skills – stressful situations, in general, also seem to follow this pattern.
Some people think they just “are who they are”, and have a fixed understanding of what their behavior and coping skills are. Others have a more flexible approach, and actively look for ways to make the best of new stresses, and I think it makes a huge, huge impact on a person’s life.
What do you think? Any personal anecdotes one way or the other?
There was a story on public radio awhile ago about how children who are quite intelligent often shy away from skills that require much effort and development in favor of those they innately excel at, and they believed it was related to this idea that they had cultivated the idea that there were some things they were just ‘good at’, and other things they weren’t.
I felt that way about drawing for my entire life – I was worse than terrible at it, despite having a photographer’s eye for detail. It took a challenging drawing class at Madonna for me to change my mind. I’ll never be an incredible sketch artist, but I can draw when I take the time to practice.
There was a story on public radio awhile ago about how children who are quite intelligent often shy away from skills that require much effort and development in favor of those they innately excel at
You could not describe me better if you tried.
“… they believed it was related to this idea that they had cultivated the idea that …”
Wow, what a sentence.
I want to know what you’re doing at this newfangled job of yours. Howzitgoin’?
Very well, actually. I’m learning new stuff without being overwhelmed with new information. And I got my auto show press pass confirmed yesterday — I’ll be there on the 15th.
Sweet! That’s during the press days? We should totally get sushi at the mazda booth or something.
Press days indeed. Sushi sounds good to me, unless Stephanie is too intent on my education to let me have fun. :)
i think that the people closest to me are overcomers. two are teachers, intentinonally and through many major challenges. one of elementary school, the other of kung fu. another’s a photographer, for a living, in new york. she travels out of the country on extended treks to pursue the art-quality that the also photography related day job doesn’t have so much of. another is a different variery of artist, also with the lifestyle habit or character trait of working really hard to overcome whatever stands in the way. and still another is an engineer of high end military technology with six kids to his name, which is a particularly intense brand of overachievement. so clearly, the overcomer strategy works. the things that i’m personally intent on overcoming are the rules of the game. this or that are prerequisites for goal x, y, or z? no they’re not, and i’ve seen proof. this puts me in strange situations a lot, i think. but what i really want to know is how to hack the game; what the *real* requirements are. gravity, for example, is a suggestion. bachelor’s degrees don’t necessarily come before master’s degrees. and 9 out of every 10 obstacles set up are red herrings. i have a feel for what the real thing is that actively shapes experience. i don’t have a name for it, though one may exist somewhere. but i think i believe in the potency and worth of true reality over false reality more than in anything else in the world.
I remember my sister getting yelled at for getting a C in 7th or 8th grade. I was like 5. I asked my parents why this was since C was average. They told me that it was because she could do better, she just wasn’t.
In high school my father actually said to me once, “What do you mean A minus?”
It was always drilled into me that it’s the hard work that matters, not the innate ability. I totally agree that kids who just give up and say “I’m just not smart enough” sell themselves short. And yeah, it carries over out of school and into real life. Shrugging and just saying “that’s just the way I am” is generally a cop out.
There was a study (I apologize for not remembering where, but I heard about it on that same program) where they considered two different elementary classrooms, one given traditional study tips, and one where they instead spent a significant period exploring how the brain works, particularly when it comes to learning, repetition, and the capacity for growth.
They found that not only did the students do better on tests, understanding that they were in control of how well they did, but that they continued to do better in following years.
I think that’s awesome. I certainly wish I really -understood- that I could control that aspect of my life as a kid.
I need to start collecting sources for shit like this since I suspect that I’ll be in charge of a lot of these important aspects of da kidz education in just a few more years…
and this is exactly how I’d like to help their brains grow. Mmmmm, brainz.
Spicy!
From my personal anecdote files, when I was in grade school and junior high, I was convinced that I sucked at math. It took a *lot* of effort for me to do simple arithmetic in my head, and I’d get yelled at a lot by my teachers for counting on my fingers while working out problems on the board. Math flash cards frustrated the hell out of me. I was convinced that I just couldn’t do math.
I really worried about the high school math classes. I didn’t want to start off failing math, especially since I wanted as good a GPA as I could get so that I could get into a good college.
Freshman year, I aced algebra. Sophomore year, I half-taught my algebra II class. Junior year, I aced geometry. I figured out I didn’t suck at *math*, but that some types of math come easy to me and some don’t.
I’d been ready to write myself off when it came to math, to say that I just couldn’t do it and that’s the way I was. I don’t think I’ve written off any particular field since then, and I have learned how to buckle down and work harder on things that don’t come so easy.
an overemphasis on intellect or talent leaves people vulnerable to failure, fearful of challenges and unwilling to remedy their shortcomings. In particular, attributing poor performance to a lack of ability depresses motivation more than does the belief that lack of effort is to blame.
Please pass this on to my parents, with a “you were doing it wrong” cat macro.
My parents were, and still are, obsessed with the idea that people have innate talents. Which is true to some extent, yes, but just because you’re not a prodigy is no reason to not do something in my opinion. I basically taught myself to read when I was two years old, which led to the idea that I was “smart”, and I was very rapidly routed towards academic pursuits and away from any others.
I taught myself to draw when I was 13. I checked out all these “how to draw” books from the library, and spent hours in my room doing goofy little exercises like drawing a bell pepper. My mom told me I did not have talent at drawing, and therefore this was a waste of time. About a year later, when I got pretty good at it, she apologized to me for saying that, but it was a qualified apology – “but you’re still better at science, you know”.
I still carry around a lot of bitterness about all this. I feel like I missed out on a LOT because my parents emphasized my academic “talents” so much. I figured out on my own that if I put in steady effort, I can improve at things. But there was a lot of baggage to overcome.
Incidentally, I was trying to explain this to my (now fired) therapist, and mentioned there are a few things I’d like to be good at but this background attitude is stopping me. She really kind of blew me off – “well I’d like to be in the Olympics, but you know, it’s ok”, which really showed me just how much she did not get it. I’ll never be on magazine covers, but I think I can get pretty damn good at rock climbing if I put in the requisite effort. I’m not going to just keep puttering about on the easy walls because I “have no talent”, “it’s too late” or “it’s ok to not be good at this”. On the other hand, I will never be a good dancer, I have no desire to put in the effort, but I still enjoy the occasional club trip. I know what all my priorities are here, but it’s amazing how much opposition I run into from people who supposedly “know better”.
Did you enjoy my novel?
*grin* yes. And yes, I agree rather much. I was never very good at social interaction with my peers as a youth, and that was something that came through hard lessons and some difficult failures.
It took me forever and ever to really understand that it was something within my control, and just because I wasn’t good then didn’t mean I could never be so.
My family was fairly supportive, from what I remember – I was mostly fighting my teachers and my own fears.
Yup, I was raised with a heavy emphasis on how “smart” I “was”. Often it was a punishment — You get a harsher penalty because you’re too smart to have done this; or, don’t worry about not being pretty or popular, because you’re smart. As a result I was both resentful of being smart, and terrified of making mistakes (because they would impact my status as smart, which felt like all I had). I spent my young life being very, very cautious and reclusive, and still tend to struggle with it today.
I plan on giving my daughter the Forrest Gump version: Smart is as smart does. You were born with wonderful traits, including brains, but they mean jack-all if you don’t use them. And then I’ll show her why being smart is a good thing (which in turn gives me incentive to get out there and use *my* smart for actual personal development).
Good question, thanks!
I agree totally. And I am completely of the type that thinks that intelligence is fixed. It’s just how I think. I wish I didn’t think that way, ’cause I hate feeling like a failure, but there it is.