GC English 110 Fall 2016

Our class blog

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‘Growing Mindset’ Education by Alfie Kohn

There have been many stigmas about how students should be taught, this way or that way,  but Kohn has put this knowledge and ideas to the test by telling us how and why his theory is more accurate. The central focus of Alfie Kohn’s article, “ The Perils of ‘Growth Mindset’ Education” published in Salon Magazine on Sunday, August 16, 2015, is research on his ideas of what a ‘growth mindset’ is and compares them to what previous psychologist Carol Dweck has said on the topic. Kohn notes that researchers such as Dweck and other psychologists were first curious on what exactly determines someone’s ‘growth mindset’. While many believe that a growth mindset comes from praise, researchers can argue otherwise. “Until those arrangements have been changed, mindset will only get you so far. And too much focus on mindset discourages us from making such changes.” What he is basically saying is that we can not make our kids focus just on their performance such as grades and test scores, but to make them be aware of what they are learning and to understand what they are doing.

When Kohn argues the fact that students are not being taught in the right way based on their specific needs. Kohn states that, “An awful lot of schooling still consists of making kids cram forgettable facts into short term memory.” He later goes on by stating, “And the kids themselves are seldom consulted about what they are doing…” Based on some knowledge I have by studying psychology, short term memory does not help the child do good in school. The information stored into your short term memory will only be able to memorize five to nine items and that is at once. But students are expected to know the information for longer periods of time when some do not have that ability. Yet this is why a lot of students do not perform well in certain assignments. Going back to a growth mindset, how can a child grow if the information stored is not practiced. In other words the child can not grow mentally by having information stored and having to memorize it for a long time.

Students mindsets can not be fixed based on the simple fact that we all learn and store information differently. Kohn believes that “fixing” students mindsets causes them to focus on other factors. I agree with his reasons because we cannot just focus on getting one thing right. One thing influences another which influences another. For me a ‘growing mindset’ is a mindset that can do and think at different times by still learning.What I am trying to say is the brain is capable of doing more than just focusing on one are in general, it all depends how much you are capable of handling

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Is a “growth” mindset really what you need?

The Perils of “Growth Mindset” Education by American author and lecturer in areas of education, Alfie Kohn, is a  persuasive article about how Carol Dweck’s theory of a “growth mindset” and how it isn’t a completely valid solution to academic success, describing its status as a “cultural meme” and conservative ideology. Khon continues by asserting that it’s a theory based on research, and that Dweck is a researcher, not an educator, so how could she possibly know what’s appropriate for students success? He also suggests that Dweck contradicts herself when she suggests to praise effort rather than intelligence, but praise is praise, so it’s still all about control. Then, the article goes on to allege that research emphasizes on performance, but never takes into consideration how the system overall can be improved. There’s a brief moment where Kohn contemplates whether he may have been too quick to judge Dweck, but then he realizes that she hasn’t spoken out against the people who try to persecute the “bad kids” for all the issues occurring in schools, so at good reason, she is someone to blame.

Within Alfie Khon’s eye-opening article, he uses multiple pieces of evidence to support his case. Kohn pointed out a study in 2010, in which when “students whose self-worth hinges on their performance face the prospect of failure, it doesn’t help for them to adopt a growth mindset. In fact, those who did so were even more likely to give themselves an excuse for screwing up- a strategy known as “self-handicapping”- as compared to those with the dreaded fixed mindset”. In other words, students were able to make-up valid excuses to get away with their omissions. Then, Kohn also points out that psychologists believe,”… it’s simply inaccurate to make too much of a fuss about things like mindsets, but there are also political implications to doing so”.  The psychologists are trying to convey that people are so focused on individual attributions that they tend to overlook how profoundly the social environments affect what people do and who they are.  Another interesting fact Kohn finds is,” Other researchers have found that just such a response-information about how they’ve done without a judgement attached-is preferable to any sort of praise”. It seems that what these psychologists associated with Khon have found is kids are more likely to succeed academically if there is no pressure on their performance, making it easier for them to think and understand the concepts.

Carol Dweck seems to put all the blame on students performance when it comes to their academic triumph, when in reality, she seems to be blind to other factors. Kohn’s ideology on “fixing” the mindsets of students, which contradicts Dweck’s theory, is something to take into consideration, and that is because Dweck’s theory consists a conservative ideology of old tradition that can no longer comply with today’s academic standards, but Khon’s idea explains it all has to start with the academic superiors themselves and they have to change their habits before students can be expected to, and that Dweck’s theory diverts attention from societal factors and influences such as poverty, political or economic barriers, sexism, and any other major problems that could possibly occur. Those unfamiliar with circumstances such as these may be interested to know that even I have witnessed similar cases, for example, my junior year of highschool I had a fellow student in my chemistry class who was brilliant and instantly understood every lesson, but his grades suffered and eventually he had to drop out for a little while so he could work full time to support his family. In other words, even though he had the right mind to do well in school, he didn’t have the time to do homework and study outside of school. In addition, my school held a seminar, in which the purpose was to get to know our classmates better, and during one serious activity, kids were to take a step forward if they were currently homeless, and it broke my heart to see seven kids take a step forward. It is students like these who aren’t given as many resources to succeed that can’t just have a “fixed” mindset to help them, not all kids are lucky enough to have the same opportunities.

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One Fits ALL

The focus that Alfie Kohn presents in the article, “The perils of “Growth Mindset” education: why we’re trying to fix our kids when we should be fixing the system” published by SALON on Sunday, August 16th 2015, is based on the flaws of the “Growth Mindset” and how it should be implemented or questioned. Kohn explains how the issues with growth mindset is that students are still distracted by what grade there getting instead of what they are doing to either get the grade or do better. Although, Kohn believes that Growth Mindset is there only to help “fix the students” instead of changing the school systems curriculum, Carol Dweck the Author of “Carol Dweck Revisits Growth Mindset” researched how those who adopt a growth mindset, helps them [students] have better self-esteem when it comes to approaching challenging idea. It is said that the more you believe you can do it and surpass a bump in the road the more you are susceptible to the idea that appraisal through approval of effort works more than having a “fixed mindset” and praising intelligence. Kohn’s major issue with Dweck’s research is that too much importance on performance can drown out the learning prosses and learning can be also affected by social environments around and in school.

In Kohn’s article, he gives an example that explains how students whose self-worth and esteem is measured by their performance face the chance of failing and according to this study those who do adopt a growth mindset, give themselves more of an excuse for failing at something, than those with the “dreaded” fixed mindset. The study calls it “self-handicapping.”

What Kohn is trying to explain in his article is that, even though everyone seems to acclaim Carol Dweck’s research there is still some flaws. He believes that to truly achieve a better system in school, you should start with the curriculums instead of trying to change the students’ mindsets. His discussion about the perils of growth mindset are agreeable because, we do not live in a society in which the size “one fits all” is true. To comply with the masses, you must be able to understand the way people think, I believe that Dweck’s research is great but Kohn’s idea on fixing the system first then the students applies better with going against the “one fits all” idea.

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“The Perils of ‘Growth Mindset’ Education” Blog Assignment

As consistently developing human beings, we are encouraged to embrace the “correct” methods to approach life and its many obstacles. One of the more popular methods of recent times, according to Alfie Kohn, is attaining the “growth” mindset, which generally consists of improving intelligence and abilities through effort. In his article, “The perils of ‘Growth Mindset’ education: Why we’re trying to fix our kids when we should be fixing the system,” Kohn’s central idea is that focusing so strongly on this concept of mindset distracts from larger educational issues that “growth” mindset doesn’t address or resolve. Kohn goes on to acknowledge the faults of the “growth” mindset concept while using data gathered through experimentation and the expert authority of researchers to provide more credibility to his argument.

For example,  Kohn refers to a study that was done in 2010 rather than the study Dweck discusses which he notably acknowledges was done in the 90’s. Not only is this research more up to date, but it contradicts a part of Dweck’s conclusion that those with a growth mindset mostly end up performing better in the long run. Kohn also states, “Social psychologists use the term ‘fundamental attribution error’ to mean paying so much attention to personality and attitudes that we overlook how profoundly the social environment affects what we do and who we are.” When stating this he suggests that those who are considered to be most experienced in this field of work and understanding are basically disagreeing with Dweck’s idea of being so completely focused on one’s self and perspective on the world.

I personally agree with Kohn, however I don’t necessarily find Dweck to be at fault for not mentioning anything about the system or environmental  that we can’t control. I do completely agree with Kohn when he states that we should focus on the larger issues that are being dismissed when we focus solely on our own minds and perspective, but I also believe that it’s important that each individual focuses on being able to grow and prosper so that we may transform and grow as a whole. However, one can’t expect to succeed without acknowledging the world around them and what it consists of, which is why I also agree with Kohn. It’s essential to get feedback and to engage with the rest of the world in order to learn and grow and expand your ability to view things in a different light and also provide new insight or contribute a different standpoint in controversial issues such as Trump being serious about running for president. It’s necessary to be involved and apart of the world in order to improve not only yourself but the environment around you, but also try to contribute to society by growing both with others and individually.

[serenagonzalez1-blog]

“The Perils of ‘Growth Mindset’ Education” Blog Assignment

As consistently developing human beings, we are encouraged to embrace the “correct” methods to approach life and its many obstacles. One of the more popular methods of recent times, according to Alfie Kohn, is attaining the “growth” mindset, which generally consists of improving intelligence and abilities through effort. In his article, “The perils of ‘Growth Mindset’ education: Why we’re trying to fix our kids when we should be fixing the system,” Kohn’s central idea is that focusing so strongly on this concept of mindset distracts from larger educational issues that “growth” mindset doesn’t address or resolve. Kohn goes on to acknowledge the faults of the “growth” mindset concept while using data gathered through experimentation and the expert authority of researchers to provide more credibility to his argument.

For example,  Kohn refers to a study that was done in 2010 rather than the study Dweck discusses which he notably acknowledges was done in the 90’s. Not only is this research more up to date, but it contradicts a part of Dweck’s conclusion that those with a growth mindset mostly end up performing better in the long run. Kohn also states, “Social psychologists use the term ‘fundamental attribution error’ to mean paying so much attention to personality and attitudes that we overlook how profoundly the social environment affects what we do and who we are.” When stating this he suggests that those who are considered to be most experienced in this field of work and understanding are basically disagreeing with Dweck’s idea of being so completely focused on one’s self and perspective on the world.

I personally agree with Kohn, however I don’t necessarily find Dweck to be at fault for not mentioning anything about the system or environmental  that we can’t control. I do completely agree with Kohn when he states that we should focus on the larger issues that are being dismissed when we focus solely on our own minds and perspective, but I also believe that it’s important that each individual focuses on being able to grow and prosper so that we may transform and grow as a whole. However, one can’t expect to succeed without acknowledging the world around them and what it consists of, which is why I also agree with Kohn. It’s essential to get feedback and to engage with the rest of the world in order to learn and grow and expand your ability to view things in a different light and also provide new insight or contribute a different standpoint in controversial issues such as Trump being serious about running for president. It’s necessary to be involved and apart of the world in order to improve not only yourself but the environment around you, but also try to contribute to society by growing both with others and individually.

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The Perils of ‘Growth Mindset’ Education??

In Alfie Kohn’s article named “The Perils of Growth Mindset”, Kohn emphasizes that research psychologist Carol Dweck’s idea of growth mindset is a phenomenon that educators picked up and are using incorrectly. Kohn himself writes, “The problem with sweeping, generic claims about the power of attitudes or beliefs isn’t just a risk of overstating the benefits but also a tendency to divert attention from the nature of the tasks themselves: How valuable are they, and who gets to decide whether they must be done?” He then later discusses how the growth mindset didn’t seem to help students when they face the idea of failure. According to Kohn, when students adopted a growth mindset, they “…were even more likely to give themselves an excuse for screwing up- a strategy known as ‘Self-handicapping’- as compared to those with dreaded fixed mindset.” He concludes his article by offering a suggestion about using an alternative to the strict guidelines of the growth mindset. Kohn’s point is that “…The real alternative to that isn’t a different attitude about oneself; it’s a willingness to go beyond individual attitudes, to realize that no mindset is a magic elixir that can dissolve the toxicity of structural agreements.”

Alfie Kohn mainly uses statistical evidence and cites experts when providing evidence. After reading his article, the evidence seems vague in my opinion. The one piece of evidence that seems credible is when Kohn talks about a study that was conducted in 2010. Kohn states “ A 2010 study found that when students whose self-worth hinges on their performance face the prospect of failure, it doesn’t help for them to adopt a growth mindset.” This is the only statistical evidence he uses throughout the entire article. He refers back to Carol Dweck quite a few times but fails to provide any other source of expertise. One example of this is “Social psychologists use the term ‘fundamental attribution error to mean paying do much attention to personality and attitudes that we overlook how profoundly the social environment affects what we do and who we are.” He talks about the social psychologists but does not give credit to one.

Kohn asserts that “fixing students mindsets diverts attention to other societal factors that influence learning such as sexism, poverty, economic, or political barriers.” Although I agree with Kohn up to a point, I cannot agree with his assumption that these mindsets divert attention away from most factors. I would say that growth mindset ignores negative thoughts such as failure or disappointment in one self. It doesn’t shy away from real societal issues that he stated. The growth mindset can give you insight into this topics from a different point of view.

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Alfie Kohn

“The Perils of ‘Growth Mindset’ Education” In the article, “The Perils of ‘Growth Mindset’ Education” Alfie Kohn discusses his views on the education system while refuting Dwecks’ theory of a “growth mindset.” Kohn believes that Dwecks’ theory is completely wrong whether it is praising intelligence or praising effort, it is still praising therefore, having the same effects. Kohn believes that the focus should be diverted to the educational system. Alfie Kohn states that the education is failing, only useful for memorization of facts that will soon after be forgotten. Altough Kohn does state that students still get excited with the process of learning, but there is no doubt that Kohn believes that there is need for some improvement. Alfie Kohn uses various evidence types to back up his claim that it isn’t the students that need fixing; it is the curriculum that needs the attention.  It’s the evidence that is presented that is left up for questioning. As Kohn attempts to prove his point he refers to the evidence he gathered to help, but most of the evidence isn’t as credible as some of his audience may want. While regarding examples of research he leaves out the most important piece, the source. In this article Kohn is referring his point regarding praise and achievements, as he tries to cite an example he states “A substantial research literature…” leaving the audience to wonder where the source of this interesting research came from. Therefore, leading to the questioning of the credibility of this article. Kohn  doesn’t even site his own work. Later in the article he writes “As I’ve explained in my books, and articles…” not giving a specific source so audience won’t be able to confirm or deny what he is stating. Kohn does leave a lot of his article in question on whether it can be deemed credible or not, but he does refer back to Dweck a lot.  He does this with John Stussel and Angela Duckworth. He uses their arguments to counter argue but also to support. It gives himself a little credibility since he does cite three different people. Overall Kohn writes a very interesting article with very strong points but his lack of sources and citing can hinder its credibility. Another one of Kohns focus was that “fixing” student’s mindsets diverts attention to other societal factors that influence learning such as sexism, poverty, economic, or political barriers. Kohn is stating that fixing a student’s mindset will ultimately put the focus on social problems and away from the real educational problems. As he states that why don’t females pursue a career in math or science, he writes “It’s all a matter of mindset. We need only shift widespread perceptions over to the growth mindset- that is, to the perceptions of girls and women who are just trapped by their own faulty thinking.” It is due to their way of thinking that they tend to focus on what they can’t do and put the blame on other societal problems.

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Blog Assignment #3

The main focus of  “The Perils of ‘Growth Mindset’ Education” by Alfie Kohn in Salon magazine, published on August 16, 2015,  is his argument that having a “growth mindset” in the education field is hurtful to students learning and progress. Kohn begins by arguing this claim with ideas by Carol Dweck and her research about children’s mindset and effort in school. Kohn insists that “there’s something disconcerting about how the idea has been used- and about the broader assumption that what students most need is a “mindset adjustment.” Throughout the whole article, Kohn contradicts Dweck’s ideas and explains how his theory that focusing solely on the mindset of children is not fixing the issue and that we must dig deeper into why children don’t want to learn and improve.

Throughout the text, Kohn uses evidence from psychological experts to prove his point and show his claim that “growth mindset” education is not helping children improve, but rather give them excuses for their failure. The evidence that Kohn is using is extremely credible, especially because one of his sources, Carol Dweck, is someone that we have read. Kohn also used a statistical fact in paragraph 15. This quote shows the pitfalls of growth mindset and Kohn then explains his claim and thoughts on how faking a growth mindset and making an excuse for failure is just as bad as a fixed mindset.

In Kohn’s article “The Perils of ‘Growth Mindset’ Education,” he asserts that from focusing so much on “growth mindset,” education has been more focused toward societal factors. When Kohn claims this, he is meaning that educators are trying too hard to make kids want to learn that they don’t have the motivation and end up focusing on the issues of society. Kohn seems to believe that students will make excuses for failure because educators are solely focused on changing the students mindsets rather than their actual knowledge. Yes, a positive mindset may be important, but students should be taught the curriculum and if they choose to be successful in life, they will try harder and improve. I agree with Alfie Kohn on his thoughts about the “growth mindset.”

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PERILS! of Growth mindset

“The Perils of “Growth Mindset” education: Why we’re trying to fix our kids when we should be fixing the system” an article by Alfie Kohn, the problems with fixed mindsets in our school system today. Kohn talks about how our schooling system is pushing our kids into a forced mindset by rewarding “intelligence” with extrinsic rewards and not recognizing our students for their struggles. Essentially our kids are brought up in the school system being self-handicap with praise and worrying about the final outcome of their tasks, ignoring the way they get there. Along with this, many kids are also exposed to the stress of tests, studying, and not focusing on soaking up the knowledge given to them. It’s even come to the point where kids start believing what the media and society says and not believing in themselves anymore, because of their gender, or even political status.

Kohn talks about a lot of problems that are involved with the “Growth Mindset” system of education, but the leading piece of evidence I found was with praise itself, and how it’s hurting them in the long run. In Kohn’s article, he talks about how praise is a form of “manipulation.” In other words he sees praise as a form of verbal reward. Research has been done proving that kids become less interested in what they are doing if praise or reward is involved. Now isn’t this just another form of manipulation. “Praise communicated that our acceptance of a child comes with strings attached” Kids should deserve our full support, if there are always strings attached, wouldn’t that just be us trying to “force” our kids into a certain mindset, instead of a growth one?

I completely agree with Kohn in his argument, fixing students mindsets diverts attention to other societal factors that influence education. Think about it, if you grow up thinking that you can’t do certain things because you are a girl, or that you have to be good at something because of your race, doesn’t that sort of contradict the healthy learning style. Not only does this influence sexism, poverty. Economic, or political barriers, it limits the students’ potential. For example. When I first started cheer leading my junior year of high school, I was my usual position as a back spot. I wasn’t the strongest of all of the back spots, mostly because the rest of them were guys who were quite a bit bigger than me. Over the summer we all were practicing one man stunts. This is when I realized I was clearly a lot weaker than my fellow back spots when I struggled a lot more holding my person then they did.  This could have easily taken me down a road of a fixed mindset, thinking that I couldn’t do what the others could because of my naturally smaller build of a woman, but it didn’t. Nobody praised my efforts but instead supported me while I practiced to build up my muscle. Sure enough I was right there with the guys that August at the football games with a person in my hands like the rest of them. Just as Kohn says, “What kids actually need from us, along with nonjudgmental feedback and guidance’s unconditional support” This is what my team was for me. Honestly, no reward or praise could have gotten me when I was, all I needed was support, and that’s what our kids need in school today.

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“Perils of Growth Mindset” Blog

          In the article The Perils of “Growth Mindset” education: Why we’re trying to fix our kids when we should be fixing the system, Alfie Kohn’s central focus is about why parents and teachers are trying to fix students’ mindsets instead of trying to fix the educational system. Kohn starts off by talking about Psychologist Carol Dwecks theories on the mindsets of children–how children having a “fixed mindset” limits their learning and academic success, and how praising children for their effort helps them convert to a growth mindset – being the key to success and becoming smarter. Kohn responds to Dweck and gives his opinions about praising children for their effort. Kohn writes about how the mindsets of children is not the problem with children success, at least not the main problem, that any type of praise to children is in fact harming them eventually giving up and giving themselves excuses for not accomplishing tasks while still having a growth mindset but still finding certain material difficult.  Kohn says that instead of spending so much time on fixing student’s mindsets, we should be focusing on making changes in the educational system such as learning strategies, structures, plans, and curriculums to make sure whether they are effective or need adjustments in order to increase learning in future students.

          Kohn uses statistical evidence in this article and also gives examples to support his argument. The statistical evidence that Kohn uses is when he writes “A 2010 study found that when students whose self-worth hinges on their performance face the prospect of failure, it doesn’t help for them to adopt a growth mindset. In fact, those who did so were even more likely to give themselves an excuse for screwing up – a strategy known as “self-handicapping” – as compared to those with the dreaded fixed mindset.” This evidence is credible because helping children adopt a growth mindset will help them but to a certain extent, such as wanting to learn and trying harder, but over time the child might still struggle with the given academic material and be discouraged to continue learning when it is too challenging. Kohn gave an example of how the school system works when he says “an awful lot of schooling still consists of making kids cram forgettable facts into short-term memory.” I assess this evidence because I remember back in high school how my teachers would just pour out meaningless information expecting us to understand it and remember it, also I don’t remember learning any strategies or being given advice on how to study or be academically successful in high school therefore making it difficult and most likely to fail.

             What Kohn means when he says “the focus on “fixing” students mindsets diverts attention to other societal factors that influence learning such as sexism, poverty, economic, or political barriers,” is that trying to fix mindsets of children takes attention away from whats happening in the real world around them that could be affecting their learning such as sexism, witnessing poverty in their lives, and economic or political barriers. I agree and disagree because other factors of a student’s life can indeed affect their learning and/or motivation to learn. At the same time in my opinion, no matter what is going on in a student’s world, they can still become successful if they learn how to cope with other factors going on in their lives, it might take a little more effort but it can still be done. That is why I agree and disagree.

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Other factors...

The central focus of Alfie Kohn’s article “The perils of ‘Growth Mindset’ education: Why we’re trying to fix our kids when we should be fixing the system” published on Sunday, August 16, 2009 by Salon, is research on the growth mindset and how there is other ways to help our children, and how we should fix our educational system. Kohn notes there is other ways than just having a growth mindset to become successful in school and etc, this led him to research more and more into the educational field. While many others believed that just having a growth mindset will help you become a better student and that will lead you to a path to success, the researchers like Kohn, believe that you cannot only have a growth mindset, there is other factors to become successful in school and explains that our educational system is flawed. Kohn presents that if students are too worried about mindsets they would get too caught up and suffer from it, he says “Here’s another part of the bigger picture that’s eclipsed when we get too caught up in the ‘growth vs. fixed’ (or ‘incremental vs. entity’ ) dichotomy: if students are preoccupied with how well they’re doing in school, the their interest in what they’re doing may suffer(57). Kohn states this because he wants to point out that it doesn’t matter what mindset you use, it is about the amount of learning, you are actually learning, for example if you only worried about the mindset you are using then your learning will suffer. Kohn also presents the fact that our educational system is broken and had to be fixed. He states this because he sees our students only looking for the grade to pass the class, and not actually caring about the learning aspects, the students care more about the grade and not the knowledge that they are getting. The evidence that Kohn introduces in his article are for the most part, is citing experts and some factual stats, and some personal examples. In the article Kohn cites Carol Dweck, acknowledge her mistakes and tells us why it is wrong. Kohn states “Carol Dweck used the label ‘incremental theory’ to describe the self-fulfilling belief that one can become smarter”(55). Kohn states this and them continues to say why it is wrong with her theory and then tells his views on it. I think this makes Kohn more credible because he states the mistake that an educational theorist made. Kohn also cites theorist who also agree with his ideas, making him more credible, and he also states some personal examples, making his stories more relatable to the reader. He also gets factual stats to back his argument. For example when Kohn is stating that praise can make a student feel like “if you’re complementing me just for trying hard, I must really be a loser”(56) he brings us stats like that “if you google the word praise and effort more than 70 million hits”(56). He does this to show the experience that the students will think when we praise them for their effort, than helping them learn the subject. Kohn asserts that focusing on the mindsets of students diverts the attention to other factors. I do agree with Kohn and how he thinks that their is other factors that change our learning capabilities. I agree with Kohn because we cannot only focus on fixing our mindsets and then magically become successful at school and learning. There is other factors in our lives that hurt our capabilities to learn and factors that help our capabilities to learn. In my life I had experiences that hurt and help my drive to learn and etc. For example when I was in my Sophomore year of high school, my uncle, was diagnosed with cancer and for my family that was a hard thing to grasp, imagine a fifteen year old teen, having to handle his uncle who helped him so much in life, diagnosed with cancer and then unfortunately passing away the same year, having a good time with school and focusing on learning. You cant, you cant just change your mindset for this occasion and then become great at school. You have to find other factors to help you get passed this and focus back at school. I did get past this and made this my motivation to become great in school, not just having a growth mindset but learning to have a better life and to make my uncle proud of me. This is a perfect example on why a growth mindset is not the only thing that can help you become a successful student, there is other factors that are good and bad that help you motivated to learn, and many more I can state but probably be too long for this blog.

[seanelliott39896]

Alfie Kohn in the article “The perils of ‘Growth Mindset’ education: Why we’re trying to fix our kids when we should be fixing the system” of Salon states that educators fall into the belief that the students are at fault other than the educators themselves or the actual school system itself. Teachers are pushing the students to believe that the issue in school is the students mindsets being fixed and not acknowledging the flaws our schooling system consists of. Kohn exposes the educators and researchers such as Dweck on their ideas that it is not the brain numbing curriculum that needs to be fixed but yet the children themselves are the ones who need the so called “fixing.” Dweck’s research claims that if praised for the right things the mindsets of students will change, yet this praise inevitably leads to a more negative effect on the child. Leaving them feeling dumb or stupid, destroying their confidence. The problem Kohn found, was that this still emphasizes performance, and not the improving of school systems. Also at first Kohn thought maybe Dweck’s research was not being used in the right context but then he realizes she never puts in mind the troubled or simply just poorly behaved children. Which is why she is too blame. Kohn is speaking out to the educators whom follow Dweck’s research and do not realize the harm it cause as well as that the schooling system is what is at fault instead of the students.  

    Kohn uses examples and statistics to try and push his point across, but uses very little. This evidence is uneffective towards his audience because its very limited and uses Carol Dweck’s research against her in order to make him seem credible. His evidence is weak and he exposes himself as being weak by targeting someone even though he has less credibility on the subject at hand. Kohn asserts, “A 2010 study found that when students whose self-worth hinges on their performance face the prospect of failure, it doesn’t help for them to adopt a growth mindset. In fact, those who did so were even more likely to give themselves an excuse for screwing up a strategy known as ‘self-handicapping’ as compared to those with the dreaded fixed mindset.” The problem with this piece of  evidence does not have a known author. This person who said this could be making it up and no one would know who claims this. Also is a very weak and broad piece to support his claim.

    Kohn asserts that the focus on “fixing” students mindsets diverts attention to other societal factors that influence learning such as sexism, poverty, economic, or political barriers. He is stating that there are other factors in students lives that can cause them to be labeled under the fixed mindset category. Yes, but poverty and economic stick out the most. Students all over the world are forced to miss class or sleep during classes because they are forced to work to help provide for their families. Which is not fair to them because they do not have opportunities the others do because their situations.  

[derrickhon-blog]

Mindset Menace

          The central focus of Alfie Kohn’s article “The Perils of  ‘Growth Mindset’ Education” published in Salon Magazine on August 19, 2015 is research on how the idea of having a “growth mindset” has become nothing more than a cultural meme. Kohn notes that everyone is so caught up in having students develop a growth mindset that the underlying issue of fixing the school system itself is not being addressed. While many believe that being praised for effort is a good thing, Kohn concludes praise itself is what is really problematic. Regarding praise, Kohn states that it is “a verbal reward, an extrinsic inducement, and, like other rewards, is often construed by the recipient as manipulation” (12). To support his argument, Kohn shares from a research literature that kids end up less interested in what they were rewarded or praised for and are in turn focused on the reward or praise themselves. Ultimately, Kohn presents this information to teachers and parents, so that they can, instead of blinding children with petty rewards or praise, give them nonjudgmental feedback, guidance, and unconditional support.

          Maintaining his claim that the “growth vs. fixed” conflict is ridiculous, Kohn cites, “A 2010 study found that when students whose self-worth hinges on their performance face the prospect of failure, it doesn’t help for them to adopt a growth mindset. In fact, those who did so were even more likely to give themselves an excuse for screwing up — a strategy known as ‘self-handicapping’ — as compared to those with the dreaded fixed mindset” (15). In other words, students that adopt a growth mindset and experience failure are more likely to impede themselves than those with fixed mindset. While the study isn’t necessarily credible, it still brings up a point that anyone concerned with the school system has thought about. There is too much emphasis on performance which, in turn, undermines learning itself.

          According to Kohn, so much attention has been paid to personality, performance, and mindsets that it has detracted from societal factors that influence learning such as sexism, poverty, economic and political barriers. In other words, Kohn believes that people such as teachers are quick to blame students’ shortcomings with learning on their mindsets rather than other forces that could be at play. I am of two minds about Kohn’s claim that there is too much emphasis placed on “fixing” students mindsets. On one hand, I agree that this emphasis does take away from far more important issues like sexism or poverty that could be the root of struggles in students. On the other hand, I’m not sure if everybody is really only focused on “fixing” mindsets. I just find it hard to believe that people can only be fixated on mindsets and not try to rationalize and see if there could be another underlying cause for a student’s poor performance. Sure I struggled a lot in school, but I have never had someone tell me it was because of me having a specific mindset. It usually stemmed from things like teaching methods, environments, or even things happening back home. I am sure that some teachers do emphasize mindsets but none of my teachers ever did. Just my two cents.

[mo1819-blog]

A right Mindset doesn't mean you will succeed.

“Kohn says that the focus on “fixing” students mindsets takes attention away from other societal factors that influence learning such as sexism,poverty,economic, or political barriers.” In other words Kohn is saying that we focus so much on students mindsets in school we leave out things that may be happening in their personal lives which may affect their educational performances. I totally agree with Kohn because I come from a low income high school and my peers and I always had things going on in our personal lives that kept us from performing to our fullest potential. Sometimes students wouldn’t be able to attend school because their parents didn’t have enough gas for them to make it to school and eventually this affected their school performance. I had a friend who had amazing work ethic and a growth mindset but sometimes he would miss so much school that when he came back he wasn’t prepared for the quizzes and test given on that day, so he would fail. Though my friend had the right mindset and great work ethic economic barriers kept him from performing highly. Students can have a growth mind set and still fail but how will the system adjust to help them?

In the article “The perils of “Growth Mindset” education: Why we’re trying to fix our kids when we should be fixing the system” by Alfie Kohn. Kohn asserts that researcher Carol Dweck is not completely correct when arguing that a growth mindset verse a set mindset is main aspect students need in order to be successful in school. “The growth mindset has approached the status of a cultural meme” in other words since researchers such as Carol Dweck claim that a growth mind set is the main characteristic students need to be successful parents and educators have taken that and tried to create growth mindset in students. Furthermore in this article Kohn goes on to dictate research and asks why performance is being researched rather than the education system. He wants to know why there is research on how students can get better and how they can adjust to the system rather than the system adjusting for the students and suiting their needs to have them perform at a high level.

Moreover Kohn introduces research evidence that shows how the growth mindset was damaging, “A 2010 study found that one student who self-worth hinges on their performance face the prospect of failure, it doesn’t help for them to adopt a growth mindset. In fact, those who did so were even more likely to give themselves an excuse for screwing up - a strategy known as “self-handicapping”- as compared to those with dreaded fixed mindset.” In other words a growth mindset was an excuse for students to fail so you can say a growth mindset is just as bad as a fixed mindset in some situations. This piece of evidence is credible because it came from a scholarly research. This is a sufficient piece of evidence because the audience need to the see different perspectives on how the growth mindset can be harming or beneficial.

[gcenglish110fall16]

Beautiful title!

[ashaabdi011-blog]

Perils of a Growth Mindset

Perils of a Growth Mindset

In the article, “The Perils of a Growth Mindset” written by Alfie Kohn, he throughly illustrates his central concept of the article by going into depth with the proposition that having a growth mindset or shifting to possessing this mindset does not necessarily make one successful. It can rather have the opposite effect. He argues that psychologist Carol Dweck’s and her years of excellent work is not wrong but however shifting into having a growth mindset brings up other alternatives rather than changing the way one thinks. Kohn states, “But the real alternative to that isn’t a different attitude about oneself; it’s the willingness to go beyond individual attitudes, to realize that no mindset is a magic elixir that can dissolve the toxicity of structural arrangements” (pg. 58). In other words, Kohn argues that the schooling systems tend to teach students in a way they repeat the same curriculums lacking enthusiasm and interest however the schooling systems need to put attention into the students themselves.

Kohn utilizes Dweck’s research as an effective method of evidence throughout his article to assist his claims. For instance Kohn states, “ Carol Dweck used the label “incremental theory” to describe the self-fulfilling belief that one can become smarter” (pg. 55). He illustrates to us how even through many years of research Dweck is subject to being wrong. Kohn shows the audience by going into depth that students are needed to be told that they do not need to have a specific mindset to do or even become better in their studies. The schooling systems have become so frank with this idea that it is implicated into their teachings. Kohn points out many occasions in which Dweck’s research of having a growth mindset can harm the students and their studies resulting in failures in their academic career. Kohn effective use of Dweck’s research showed the audience that “too much focus on mindset discourages us from making such changes” (pg. 58). In addition to this, Kohn addresses throughout his articles that schooling systems are the ones to blame for neglecting the students right to illustrate intelligence and practice it in their assignments. Repeating the same lectures, teaching methods, and given assignments forces them to learn but lose interest in their studies. School should be fun and students should not be learning to simply pass their subjects, they should be learning to build their future and shape into something they want it to become as well as something to look forward to. The way the education system is built today questions if those students dreams will ever become a reality.

In Kohn’s quote, “fixing students mindsets diverts attention to other social factors that influence learning such as sexism, poverty, economic, or political barriers” he is expressing the idea that if some was living in poverty or in a country that is not economically stable will it affect one’s mindset. In my experience, my parents comes from a country, Somalia, in which they did not have the option if they were able to attend school. Influence from the family and the roles they had to play became barriers that prevented that option from ever becoming a choice of their free will. However, my parents did not let that stop them and had worked tirelessly so they can have an education and an environment where their children could grow up and pursue an academic career. I agree with Kohn in various wayc because my parents had not needed to change the way they think. They had the mindset in place but pushed themselves to make their goals become something factual. They had worked hard and moved to the United States and equally pursues an academic career. This goes back to the schooling systems as well because students have the mindset that they want to become successful individuals however the system is not pushing them to bring out their intellectual abilities for them to persevere and implicate the idea of making their dreams come true is matter of fact possible.

[emmyyum]

Mindset? Or Educational system? What needs to be fixed.

In Alfie Kohn’s article “The perils of "Growth Mindset” education" published on August 16, 2015 is his intake on Carol Dweck’s studies of fixed and growth mindset. He talks about how teachers and parents focus so much on the student’s mindset than the education system itself. Kohn first talks about Carol Dweck, a psychologist, he confronts her research and studies on this topic and gives his ideas along with it. While Dweck believed student’s effort is linked to their mindsets, having a “fixed” one limits their learning potential and success. But Kohn had a different response, he believed that a student’s mindset wasn’t the main source of the problem, but there was so much more to it. He states that the education system is to blame for students poor performance in school other than blaming the student for being “fixed”. To support this argument Kohn shares evidence of research, studies, and even his own claims to prove his point. Kohn presents this information to us to show us that there are some flaws to the education system and to Carol Dweck’s ideas. Given by Alfie Kohn in this article, he uses evidence from research and studies. For example he uses evidence from studies done in 2010, they found that students that have a growth mindset will adapt a strategy called “self-handicapping”. They explained that “those who did so (meaning having a growth mindset) were even more likely to give themselves an excuse for screwing up” this gives out the point that adopting a growth mindset does not help the student at uall. It just leads to students finding it as an excuse when failure surfaces. Speaking about growth mindset Kohn refers to Dweck’s studies a lot, he confronts her ideas and gives a response with “yes, but it works to a certain extent.” He explains that a growth mindset doesn’t make things worse, but it is pretty limited. It’s even confirmed by psychologist, “Training them to think about effort more than ability does nothing to address the fact, that too much emphasis on performance undermines intellectual engagement.” Meaning that as long as teachers and students pressure the students to focus more on effort than ability, students might believe that as long as they did something they’ll receive full credit. So rather than working with the student to be better, teachers and parents will just focus on them being “fixed”. When Kohn asserts the focus on “fixing” students mindsets, it diverts attention to other societal factors that influence learning such as sexism, poverty, economic, or political barriers. He’s explaining that a student’s mindset isn’t the only reason they’re doing bad during their education, there are real world problems that is affecting a person’s mind. Sexism, poverty, economic, and political barriers are important factors that can impact a student. From what Kohn has stated I agree with his statement about these factors affecting students. Personally in my life poverty and sexism played a big role to how I acted during school. For example, because I am a girl I am limited to possibilities. As a female in an Asian community I am still expected to cook, clean, and watch over my husband and kids. I am not limited because It’s all in my head and I’m not positive enough. But It’s because I can’t avoid the real world problems that is happening around me. Things like poverty and sexism is hard to overcome when it’s bigger than just your mind, so just thinking positive isn’t much help.

[gcenglish110fall16]

Nice title!

[jessicamontes15-blog]

The Perils of Growth Mindset Education

The article “The perils of growth mindset education” by Alfie Kohn focuses mainly about how Carol Dweck’s theory affects the main issue about the two mindsets. But Kohn’s arguement is mainly about the educational system, on how helps kids be successful in the long run. He really believes that categorizing a student with a fixed mindset like how Dweck does is not a good way of reffering to students. She believes that students are born with that type of mentality and that they are born with certain amount of intellegence, while students with a growth mindset is that they believe that intellegence can be build up with hard work and dedication. Kohn strongly disagrees with what Dweck’s theory is which is just the importance of changing the way a students think, he believes that there other ways that can be used to be succesful.

Kohn focuses more on effort than the amount of intellegence a student has, he says that effort praise has problems of its own. This man did some research on how it shows that kids usually end up less interested in certain things they were rewarded or praised for what they accomplised because now they are not looking into really learning or trying because what they are just looking for is the reward that they will get in the end. In his article he explains what praising a student really  means, and that is  manipulation he also mentions the negative outcomes that happen after. In his article Kohn makes a really good point, and that is students don’t really bother to read or understand what they are doing for the assingment that was given to them. All they really care about is just compliting the assingment and receiving the feedback on the assingment. That’s not okay because students really need to understand what they are doing before actually receiving the “reward”.

In Kohn’s article he mentions that focusing on fixing a student’s mindset brings attention that could really influence the way someone learns. Kohn really wants to put out there is that Dweck puts a lot of importance on factors that are taking a way the real issue of the education system. I strongly agree on how Kohn thinks because the way students are being praised is not helping them is only hurting them for the long run. We should not have students think that is ever okay because its not.