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.
