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| "Village School" (c. 1670) by Jan Steen |
Do universities have mindsets? How about individual classes? How does mindset play into grading?
Does the existence of an Honors Program suggest that talented students can and should be given more opportunities for development than other students?
How can a school--or a class--be organized in a way that genuinely values and encourages personal development and growth?
I believe that some but not all universities can have mindsets. Big, prestigious universities can often fall into a mindset of seeing themselves as the best just because they are the biggest and have a lot of money, when in reality smaller universities could offer a better education and produce better and more successful students. Individual classes can also have mindsets. I'm guilty of hearing a story about a professor or a class and automatically assuming that the class will be too hard and I won't succeed as well as I want to. Mindset can affect how I feel about a class even before the first day of that class. To get over this problem, universities and classes should stress the importance of effort to its students. No matter how big or small or easy or hard, the student can succeed with the right effort and the right mindset.
ReplyDeleteI agree with Brayden, universities can have mindsets, be it a positive or a negative one. While you can certainly look at a large college and practically feel the waves of importance, money, and excellence that they can boast, a smaller school can be guilty of a mindset as well. One could look at a small, but private school and assume that it would offer a quality of education that a public college could not, but in actually be subpar in its teaching and care of the students. Some would look at a small college and assume that it offers an easy education. I also agree that classes have mindsets. I have been known to experience severe doubt and anxiety towards a class I have to take without even taking a step in the classroom. Stressing the importance of effort and not so much the grade at the end of the day would solve many problems in these mindsets. It should be about the journey, not the destination.
DeleteI agree that individual classes have mindsets, but I find it really hard to believe that entire universities have one mindset. I think universities can have mindsets that affect classrooms and teachers, but I just think each class is too unique with different pools of students, teachers, content, etc.
DeleteTessa Neeley
All university have mindsets, and while some maybe me growth minded other are fixed minded. The mindset of each individual classes is all up to the professor. It is his or her mindset
ReplyDeletethat will seep into young active minds, and take
course from there. While I do hope that all classes with be based on growth, I know this will not be the case as some professors will
have there set way of doing activities, and learning. I think grading plays into mindsets in such ways as a subject grading professor would likely be more growth minded compared to a set scale grading professor who is fixed in his or her ways. I think the honors program should be a privilege for kids who work hard to achevie academic success. If kids, such as my self, are going above and beyond, they should be rewarded in such ways as being a participant of the honors program.
-Brooke Hill